Australia

Beston Global Food Company has sold its four dairy farms in South Australia to PSP Investment and Warakirri Asset Management-backed Aurora Dairies in a US$27.8 million cash deal

Funds managed by North American farmland and timber giant Hancock Natural Resource Group are poised to snap up two almond properties worth around $12 million in the NSW Riverina and South Australia’s Riverland.

You’d be surprised to learn that the billion dollar barons of Australian farmland are a Canadian government worker super fund, a New York teacher insurance fund and an Australian pastoral giant backed by a Dutch pension fund

Hewitt Cattle Australia, a joint partner of Canadian pension fund – Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), has listed its Mt. Cooper aggregation in Northern Queensland for sale.

The past few years has seen a steep increase in the players involved in the Australian agribusiness investment sector, particularly with Canadian and American pension funds.

Macquarie-backed Viridis Ag has bulked up its national broadacre cropping portfolio, buying a 356-hectare property in Belubula Valley, amid a steady stream of blue-chip farming deals in Australia.

Japfa’s AustAsia operates seven farms in China with roughly 80,000 cows and is a major supplier of raw milk to Meiji’s dairy business.

The Australian fund has confirmed that it has completed an off-market deal to acquire Terrick Terrick, a 55,000-hectare property from long-time owners Russel Pearson and the Pearson family, for an undisclosed amount.

Large institutional investors are pouring capital into global agricultural markets, and Australia has been a key target.

Foreign buyers stepping into the rural property or agribusiness sector will have to negotiate new regulatory hurdles aimed at preventing a rush of opportunistic offshore-based takeovers during the coronavirus emergency.

The TH Group has settled a deal to buy three Top End cattle stations in Australia, covering 732,900 hectares and with 60,000 head of cattle, more than 12 months after a contract was signed.

The ANZ bank has agreed to provide a financial package to Cambodian families forcibly displaced by a sugar company the Australian bank loaned money to in 2011.