Gina Rinehart officially the single largest private landholder in Northern Territory

GINA Rinehart is officially the single largest private landholder in the Territory after her consortium’s $365 million bid to buy Kidman and Co cattle station was given the green-light by Treasurer Scott Morrison

Mining magnate and Hancock Chairman Gina Rinehart pictured at the Kidman Pastoral property, which was approved for sale by the Federal Government on Friday

GINA Rinehart is officially the single largest private landholder in the Territory after her consortium’s $365 million bid to buy Kidman and Co cattle station was given the green-light by Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting had lodged the bid for two-thirds of Kidman and Co, with Chinese-owned real estate conglomerate Shanghai CRED.

Mr Morrison, who last year knocked back a Chinese-led bid for the cattle station, said this deal was good for Australia.

“Kidman will remain majority Australian owned under this proposal, and remain an Australian incorporated company headquartered in South Australia,” he said in a statement. “The acquisition of Kidman as proposed would not be contrary to the national interest.”

Under the proposal, Hancock will control the board and day-to-day operations, keeping it Australian-owned. It has also offered to increase herd size by 20,000 head of cattle over the next 18 months and invest $19 million in capital improvements.

Mr Morrison said the acquisition would create 35 new fulltime permanent jobs by June 2018 while also employing more contractors and short terms specialists.

The extra jobs will be given to locals and indigenous employees where possible, he added. The largest station in the Kidman group, Anna Creek and its outstation The Peake in SA, will be acquired by a neighbouring Australian farming family.

The rest will be acquired by Outback Beef — the consortium majority owned by Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Beef.

In July, Hancock acquired the Riveren and Inverway cattle stations, southwest of Katherine. A month later, she bought Phoenix Park, on Florina Rd in Katherine.

Ms Rinehart said in a statement yesterday that she was “excited about the future”.

“We intend to provide additional investment in cattle and infrastructure, including technology improvements in our efforts to keep cost and quality competitive internationally,” she said.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the deal “shows Ms Rinehart has faith in the future of the Territory’s pastoral sector”.