Chinese-backed company Bindaree inspects mothballed Livingstone abattoir

A Top End business that has been gathering dust for almost a decade could be on the market. Read what it is.

A mothballed $110 million Territory abattoir could be reactivated after gathering cobwebs for years if the Australian subsidiary of a Chinese-backed company, which has links to Darwin, follows up on initial interest and buys the plant.

And if a deal does go ahead it would result in hundreds of new jobs.

Placed on ice in 2018 the Livingstone Abattoir, about 50km south of Darwin, produced export beef, hides and rendered products for three years before the shock decision to lock the doors.

But new life could soon be breathed into the disused facility, with AACo flagging a strategic review that could potentially lead to the abattoir being reopened.

AACo chairman Donald McGauchie flagged the review at the company’s annual general meeting last November, saying the asset still has value for the company.

The AACo abattoir at Livingstone could be revived.

“Along with our other properties, the review will also consider the best way to use the Livingstone facility,” Mr McGauchie said.

“We have said for a number of years that we believe the asset has strategic value.

“We have continued to maintain the facility with the knowledge of those potential future prospects.

“We are open-minded about the opportunities that will achieve the best value for shareholders.”

The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported Melbourne firm Kidder Williams had been canvassing prospective buyers for the 10-year old facility.

The abattoir, which employed about 200 people when its doors shut in 2018, cost around $110m to build.

It’s closure followed company losses for AACo in excess of $100m announced in the 2017-18 financial year.

The AFR noted Bindaree had been buying up similar assets including an abattoir in regional New South Wales, which is expected to increase processing at the plant.

Prisoners help build the cattle yards at the AACo abattoir in 2014.

Headquartered in Martin Place, Sydney, Bindaree has the iconic First Cut beef brand as well as the Bindaree Butchery, which promotes a 70-day grain-fed beef product.

Bindaree Food is majority owned by Chinese billionaire Hui Wing Mau’s Shimao Group.

Mr Hui has dual Australian-Chinese citizenship and was ranked 19th richest Australian on the AFR’s 2023 rich list with a $4.9 billion fortune.

According to the Financial Review Mr Hui, formerly known as Xu Rongmao, holds Australian citizenship after studying for an MBA at the University of South Australia in the 1990s and that his family once lived in Darwin.

The Territory’s main industry peak bodies welcomed the potential for a buyout, but noted challenges with the abattoir’s viability.

Patrick Moran Live Cattle Exporters' Association

NT Live Exporters Association chief executive Patrick Moran said the facility, which is also known as the Acacia abattoir, was prone to seasonal influences.

“Seasonal growing conditions make it extremely challenging to run a large processing facility like Acacia year-round, due primarily to a lack of sufficient supply during the dry season,” he said.

“Nonetheless, if innovative solutions could be found to solve that economic hurdle, reopening the Acacia facility could create jobs in the rural area and provide an important secondary market for Territory producers to sell cattle that are not exported.”

Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Will Evans believes the facility has “huge potential” to deliver for the Territory.

“It’s an incredibly valuable facility and offers huge potential to the industry,” he said. “It also offers huge potential for the Northern Territory economy and could be a key regional employer located conveniently close to Darwin.

“The opportunity around the abattoir is huge, but finding a way to operate it has been the challenge.”

The NT News reached out to Bindaree for comment.

Originally published as Chinese-backed company Bindaree inspects mothballed Livingstone abattoir