Gina Rinehart’s S. Kidman & Co. has sold four cattle stations across the NT and Queensland

The buyers of four cattle stations across the NT and Queensland owned by billionaire Gina Rinehart’s S. Kidman & Co. have been revealed.

Gina Rinehart at one of the S. Kidman & Co. properties.

Gina Rinehart’s S. Kidman & Co. has closed on the sale of four cattle stations across the Northern Territory and Queensland for an undisclosed sum, with the buyers revealed for the first time.

Kidman, which is majority-owned by Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture with a minority stake held by Chinese company CRED Pastoral, has sold the Durrie, Naryilco and Glengyle stations in Queensland to Appleton Cattle Company, which has significant beef interests in eastern Australia.

It has also sold Brunchilly Station, including Banka Banka East, in the Northern Territory to the Harris family, which also has significant beef production interests across Australia.

The four cattle stations being divested cover a total of 24,182sq km and have the capacity to run more than 45,000 head.

Kidman said the sales, first announced in November last year without revealing who the buyers were, were in line with its strategy of investing in and improving agricultural assets for sale.

“The sale of these properties is consistent with S. Kidman & Co’s strategy of divesting properties where significant investment has improved them by focusing on essential maintenance and specific areas including improved animal welfare and employee safety, the use of technology and innovation and improvements across the herds,’’ Hancock Agriculture said in a statement.

“Improvements in the productivity and condition of the stations, including developing and expanding water infrastructure, invaluable during droughts and long musters, improved employee safety and cattle handling equipment, shading for cattle and horses, and investing in widespread extensive communication networks to aid staff communication and data collection and analysis, and very useful for employee safety.

“This investment is reflective of the approach across all of Hancock Agriculture’s properties, bringing the benefit of investment into Australian agriculture.’’

The company said it intended to retain and grow its remaining “substantial portfolio” which includes operations in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The company said its east coast wagyu operations formed the largest full-blood and pure bred wagyu herd in the world, and that business would continue to grow.

Since acquiring then-Adelaide-based S. Kidman & Co in late 2016 for $386.5m in a joint venture with Shanghai CRED, Hancock Agriculture has vastly reshaped the business, upgrading technology and cattle welfare across its sites, and divesting many of its assets.

Over the past two years or so S. Kidman & Co has sold at least eight cattle stations including Riveren and Inverway in the NT for $105m, Aroona, Willeroo, Sturt Creek and Ruby Plains in WA, and Innamincka and Macumba stations in South Australia.

The company, founded in 1899 by Sir Sidney Kidman, was based in Adelaide at the time of its sale and at the time had significant landholdings across South Australia, however no longer has any interests in SA. It is now headquartered in Brisbane.