Australians will get a chance to own a 20 per cent stake in the country's largest landholder, S. Kidman & Co, alongside large Chinese investors, after a deal was struck this week to buy the iconic cattle business for more than $370 million.
The Australian government is deferring until after an upcoming federal election a politically sensitive decision on whether to allow the sale of one of the country's biggest cattle empires, S. Kidman & Co, to a Chinese-led consortium.
The Australian operating arm of Shanghai CRED, known as Shanghai Zenith, has agreed to purchase eight properties in the Goldfields, Kimberley and Wheatbelt for around $20 million.
Australia’s largest pastoral cattle empire, S. Kidman and Co., has agreed to be sold to a Chinese-led consortium for 370.7 million Australian dollars (US$287.3 million), continuing a flurry of deals in the country’s agricultural sector. Earlier proposed deal was rejected by the government last year.
Dakang Australia and Australian Rural Capital say they want to transform S Kidman and Co into a global beef brand
Des groupes chinois ont proposé 370,7 millions de dollars australiens pour racheter les terres du plus grand propriétaire foncier d'Australie
The chairman of Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board has likened his role to walking a barbed-wire tightrope, as he attempts to balance the interests of investors and the need for capital with community concern about foreign sales.
The push to buy Australian farmland and buy into agribusinesses continues to grow, with one report showing an overall jump of $1.9 billion in proposed agricultural investment, year-on-year.
Chinese investors will spend nearly $2.5 billion in agriculture and $1.7 billion in financial assets. In 2014, those were numbers were $32 million and $51 million respectively.
Chinese fertilizer producer Hubei Xinyangfeng has secured its first allotment of farmland outside of China, after it purchased a farm in southern New South Wales, Australia.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Miner and commodity trader Glencore Plc's agricultural business, which has farming operations covering 270,000ha in Argentina, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine.
A new register of agricultural land will not be made public despite the Government's promise to provide more transparency over foreign investment in Australian farms.
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