Packhorse Pastoral Co has forked out $30 million to acquire large-scale Roma district property Stuarts Creek and cattle, in one of the Maranoa region’s largest single grazing asset transactions, as it embarks on a five-year mission to grow the cattle and carbon fund to $1.5 billion.
Packhorse secured $62.5 million in funding that helped secure the property. It is targeting $300 million in its first year – $230 million in equity and the remainder in debt – to fund to purchase of up to 10 cattle properties that will actively improve and lease out.
Billionaire Terry Snow, whose Capital Airport Group owns Canberra Airport, is the cornerstone investor.
The Stuart’s Creeks deal included $27 million for the 8,360 hectares of land and a further $3 million for around 800 breeding cows plus calves.
Stuart’s Creek is located 45 kilometres north west of Roma and offers a balance between open downs country and areas of lighter forest.
Vendor John Galwey bred herd bulls and commercial Hereford cattle on the property for 50 years, and hosted the Stuart’s Creek Hereford bull sale each year since the 1970s.
Packhorse will also look to the use the property for carbon sequestration that would offer the potential to generate carbon credits.
Record beef prices are expected to rise further throughout the year, and owners of cattle properties are looking to take advantage of the market and strong seasonal conditions. Australia’s northernmost pastoral property, Bramwell Station, is one of the latest to be put up for sale and can also generate additional income from a carbon credit scheme.
New York-based investment firm The Rohatyn Group is hoping for more than $55 million from the sale of the Kaiuroo Aggregation in Central Queensland, while mining magnate Gina Rinehart is shopping around a $300 portfolio of cattle stations and livestock spanning 1.876 million hectares in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Prominent retail real estate player Brett Blundy has offered a pair of NT stations with expectations of around $230 million.
Miranda Downs in Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria has just set a new price record of more than $180 million for a single pastoral holding, tens of millions of dollars above initial expectations.
