Australia

With first round bids due imminently, the high expectations could leave foreign bidders in the box seat, testing the government’s appetite for foreign ownership of sensitive assets less than two years after it rejected China-led bids for a major energy grid and agricultural company.

The Kahlbetzer family’s Twynam Agricultural Group has sold three properties in Lachlan Valley in New South Wales to two overseas investors – MERS Global Investments and Optifarm

AgCAP has completed the sale of its initial Sustainable Agriculture Fund (SAF) portfolio, which included the sale to institutional and private equity investors of SAF’s three cropping aggregations in Australia.

More detail surrounding foreign ownership of Australia’s agricultural assets should be made publicly available, the National Farmers’ Federation says.

One of the people most active in driving Chinese investment in Australian farmland, David Goodfellow, is switching camps to help build a $1 billion Canadian investment portfolio.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announces the acquisition of Jasper Farms, Australia's second-largest avocado producer.

One of Western Australia's most recognised household dairy names — the 130-year-old Brownes Dairy — has been sold to a Chinese firm.

Agreements between the State Government and Chinese-owned Kimberley Agricultural Investment were reached this week, overing 7400ha at Goomig Farmlands, near Kununurra, as part of the Ord Stage 2 project

According to the latest Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land, Chinese ownership of Australian farmland has increased tenfold in the past year, to 14.4 million hectares.

The deal will also see the company, backed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, acquire two certified organic properties owned by Arcadian covering over 30,000 ha.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has made its first offshore farm investment, taking a stake in Australian beef stud Palgrove for an undisclosed amount.

Chinese investment in Australian farmland has risen over the past year from about 1.5 million hectares to almost 14.5 million hectares.