Aussie family office bets $86m on poultry

RF Capital, the family office of ultra-high net worth Australian Andrew Roberts, has purchased six poultry processing plants for A$100m ($86 million; €68 million), through its property investments manager, CorVal.

The seller, Inghams Property Management, will leaseback the facilities from the new owners. The leases will expire after 20 years.

The facilities are located in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

RF Capital is the family office investment vehicle of the Roberts Family, of billion-dollar Multiplex construction firm fame. Andrew Roberts, who heads up the RF Capital outfit, has switched gear in his investment strategy in recent years.

He told an Australian newspaper in 2011 that he preferred investments in fund structures over direct investments, and was not keen on real estate as an asset class, which often suffers stark peaks and troughs in value.

He is not the only ultra-high net worth Australian to invest in agriculture. Gina Rinehart, mining magnate and Australia’s richest person, acquired a 50 percent stake in a joint venture with Dowford Investments, an Australian family office, investing in beef processing facilities. She has gone on to make other investments in Australia’s dairy sector alongside Chinese investors recently.