Hailiang Group to sell Hollymount and Mt Driven aggregation

More than 61,000ha in southern Queensland have hit the market, offered for sale by the company of a Chinese billionaire.

Two stations spanning more than 61,000ha in the Balonne region of southern Queensland have hit the market, offered for sale by the company of a Chinese billionaire.

Chinese conglomerate, the Hailiang Group, via Hailiang Agriculture Australia, are selling the Hollymount and Mt Driven aggregation ten years after they last changed hands.

Controlled by billionaire Feng Hailiang, one of China’s richest men with a net worth of $2.5 billion, the Hailiang Group purchased the Hollymount and Mt Driven properties in 2015, paying $41 million in total.

Traikant – a holding company of the Duddy family sold their 34,047ha Hollymount station, while Michael Gibbs sold the neighbouring 26,961ha Mount Driven station.

Feng Hailiang of the Hailiang Group. Picture: File

Since then the Zhejiang-based Hailiang Group, founded in 1985, has owned the properties alongside other business interests including copper smelting, real estate and education.

Ray White Rural Queensland agents Bruce Douglas and Richard Brosnan are handling the sale of the Hollymount and Mt Driven aggregation, via expressions of interest closing August 22.

The Hollymount property spans 34,047ha east of St George in southern Queensland.

Located 51km east of St George, the Hollymount property comprises about 11,960ha of improved pastures, 3400ha currently sown to oats and wheat, 3500ha of previous cultivation which has now returned to buffel predominantly, 11,895ha of grazing with light to moderate timber regrowth and 1250ha of older regrowth timber with the balance of 2041ha remnant vegetation.

The Mt Driven property comprises about 18,760ha of established improved pastures, 1800ha of cleared cultivation and improved pastures, 700ha of cultivation land and a balance of 5700ha remnant vegetation.

The Hailiang Group have owned the Hollymount and Mt Driven properties since 2015.

A package of three unsupplemented water allocations Moonie Zoned D totalling 3980ML are also on offer with the aggregation.

The Hailiang Group’s acquisition of the Hollymount and Mt Driven aggregation in 2015 was one of several high profile rural property transactions in southern Queensland’s irrigation district.

Two years earlier Australia’s largest irrigated cotton farm Cubbie Station was purchased by the Chinese and Japanese-backed consortium Shandong Ruyi for $232 million, subsequently sold in 2022 to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

In 2014 Orient Agriculture also purchased the first portions of what is now the 13,920ha Undabri and Yambocully Aggregation, which was listed for sale last year.

Meanwhile, south of the border Michael Norman and family are selling their the Staplegrove Aggregation, a large-scale dryland cropping and grazing property at the coveted southern end of the renowned NSW Liverpool Plains near Blackville.

The Norman family are selling the 3089ha Staplegrove Aggregation, situated on the NSW Liverpool Plains.

Spanning 3089ha in total the aggregation comprises three non-contiguous properties; Staplegrove (1715ha), Brenand (1021ha) and Glendower (353ha).

Across the aggregation 2200ha are dedicated to dryland cropping, while 889ha are used for grazing.

In the district, recent transactions have seen arable farmland reach in excess of $18,000 a hectare while grazing land has reached $6500 to $7000 a hectare.

LAWD senior director Col Medway and director George Barton are handling the sale of the Staplegrove aggregation.

Originally published as Hailiang Group to sell Hollymount and Mt Driven aggregation