Macquarie has sold its 105,000 hectare Lawson Grains portfolio for more than half a billion dollars to Sydney-based New Forests and Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
The portfolio comprises more than 70 assets – or 10 aggregations – across Western Australia and New South Wales that Macquarie Agriculture had collected since the fund’s launch in 2012.
Lawson Grains was listed for sale in March through Macquarie Crop Partners. The transaction price is believed to have landed towards the upper end of initial expectations of $500 million to $600 million.
Just over 90,000 hectares of arable land produced over 250,000 tonnes of grains and oilseed last year.
Excellent seasonal conditions and a hefty grain harvest has government’s forecaster ABARES expecting agricultural production to have jumped by 8% over FY21 to $65.9 billion. Nearly 90% of farmers across the country are tipping the strong business conditions will either continue or improve over the year ahead.
Managed out of Albury, Lawson Grains was one of Macquarie Group’s three agriculture investment funds, also including Paraway Pastoral and Viridis Ag, with a combined value of more than $3 billion.
The aggregations include NSW aggregations Uah at Forbes, Grassmere at Oaklands, Borambil at Rand and Kealandi at Moree, while the WA portfolio includes Hakea at Esperance, Gunnadoo at Jerramungup, Wongan at Wongan Hills, Jerry South at Jerramungup, St Leonards at Wongan Hills and Walyoo at Yathroo.
New Forests manages a $6 billion international portfolio of forestry assets backed by AIMCo, which itself has over $120 billion of assets under management.
Another Canadian player, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, bought the Auscott Limited growing and processing business in NSW for over $500 million with Australian Food & Fibre.
Sydney-based private equity firm Roc Partners has just taken a majority stake in the $120 million Murray River Land business that includes 60 farm assets either side of the Murray River.
Other portfolio offerings put up for sale this year include US private equity firm Proterra Investment Partners offering the Corinella Group of properties in Victoria and South Australia with expectations of $350 million, 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, and retail real estate player Brett Blundy has offered a pair of NT stations with expectations of around $230 million.
Chinese group Shenhua Watermark Coal is offering 16,570 hectares of controversial Liverpool Plains landholdings, hoping for about $120 million.
