NewsBite

Different rules for Gina Rinehart, say Kidman bidders

The battle by four large scale cattle families to buy the Kidman empire is intensifying.

Sterling Buntine is a part of the first entirely Australian offer for the Kidman cattle empire.
Sterling Buntine is a part of the first entirely Australian offer for the Kidman cattle empire.

The battle by four large cattle families to buy the Kidman empire is intensifying, with the all-Australian consortium accusing the S Kidman and Co board of favouring the earlier rival bid by mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and China’s Shanghai CRED.

Cattleman Sterling Buntine, spokesman for the joint Brinkworth, Buntine, Harris and Oldfield (BBHO) bid, said that with their syndicate offering $386 million for the 11 million hectare, ­­­10-station business and with no requirement for Foreign Investment Review Board approval, it was clearly a superior bid to the Rinehart-CRED $365m offer.

Mr Buntine said that under the rules of a public company, Kidman’s board had an obligation to present the two bids to shareholders of the company — 54 trusts and individuals linked to ­direct descendants of cattle king Sir Sidney Kidman — for a vote.

“We have the superior offer in terms of amount of money and no conditionality; on those terms alone — even without nostalgia or the fact we are an all-Australian syndicate of existing cattle industry people — I would absolutely expect to win this,” Mr Buntine said.

“[But] I think they [the Kidman board] have always had a preference to sell it to their preferred bidder; they must have their own reasons for doing so. I don’t think we were treated under same rules.

“But that’s not the issue here; we’ve been given a second chance at this (after Treasurer Scott Morrison rejected a Chinese bid in April for the second time) — and we are going to put the money up and get this.”

But Kidman managing director Greg Campbell said there was no way the Kidman board could yet consider or assess the BBHO alternative bid, since no formal or ­detailed bidders’ statement had been presented to the company.

“All we have seen is the press release announcement, not a formal bidder’s statement that spells out the terms and conditions of their offer,” Mr Campbell said.

“(The board) has to form an opinion as to if (the bid) is superior or not, if it delivers value to shareholders and if the offer is likely to be met, before we decide whether to put it to shareholders; without a formal statement we can’t do any of that yet.”

Mr Buntine said he was amazed anyone would think it was better to sell the outback empire to “foreigners” rather than to Australians who live and work on the land.

The syndicate’s four principals — Tom Brinkworth, Mr Buntine, Malcolm Harris and Viv Oldfield, who all own substantial outback cattle stations from South Australia to the Kimberley — plan to split the 10 cattle stations between them. But Mr Buntine said the group would channel all of its existing cattle production and the 200,000 head of newly acquired Kidman cattle into supplying a new SK beef brand from a combined herd of nearly 600,000 head of cattle, forming one of the biggest land and beef cattle businesses in the world.

Mr Morrison yesterday claimed the late but “great” emergence of the all-Australian bid vindicated his government’s decision to twice block foreign investors from buying the cattle empire.

Read related topics:China TiesGina Rinehart

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/different-rules-for-gina-rinehart-say-kidman-bidders/news-story/f59cccd26b3c179f5a39e159e73bf2d3