Deals

Macquarie’s Paraway divesting land

CBRE, which is handling the sale, said the property is likely to attract institutional investor interest.

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Macquarie Group’s Paraway Pastoral Company is selling its 31,602-hectare Pier Pier Station, a mixed cropping, sheep breeding and cattle fattening aggregation near Coonamble in New South Wales, six months after putting three other properties up for sale.

The Macquarie Pastoral Fund, which fully owns Paraway, closed on A$700 million in 2011.

“Pier Pier’s size, diversity and development upside will be the key draw cards for prospective purchasers,” said CBRE agribusiness regional director Danny Thomas, who is handling the sale. “This is a true mixed farming aggregation, with the opportunity to increase the cropped area up to 7,000 hectares, pursuant to a well advanced property vegetation plan.”

No asking price for the land has been disclosed. The property has 2,326 hectares dedicated to cropping, 5,253 hectares of Macquarie Marshes and 24,013 hectares of grazing land, has been disclosed. It also has black-to-light-red sandy soils, some light timberland, water dams, a reticulated system of equipped water bores supplying a network of tanks and concrete troughs and a 1930s homestead.

“The marshes are extremely beneficial, particularly during drier periods,” said CBRE agribusiness director Colin Medway. “The property is currently carrying a huge body of mitchell, buffel, couch and medic marshes, offering an incoming purchaser enormous benefits.”

Working improvements include new ProWay cattle yards with a capacity of 800 head, and a 10-stand raised board shearing shed with yards.

Paraway, which has brought together 21 beef enterprises since its inception, posted A$67.1 million ($51.54 million; €45.28 million) in net profits in 2015, nearly triple the A$23 million seen in 2014. The livestock-focused investment vehicle suffered overall losses in 2012 and 2013.

The company has also sold the Deltroit Station in southern New South Wales, bought for about A$15 million in 2011, and its Neumayer Valley property in the north of Queensland. Neumayer Valley, a breeding station, is thought to have been bought for A$30 million in 2013.