Gina Rinehart to face new Kidman pastoral company bid

Gina Rinehart will have to stare down a significant bid for the Kidman empire from some wealthy farming families.

Sterling Buntine, centre, with MP Bob Katter, left, and Senator Nick Xenophon in Canberra.

Gina Rinehart will have to stare down a significant bid for the S. Kidman & Co cattle empire from some of the country’s wealthiest farming families, pitting the mining magnate against the pastoralists for control of the world’s largest portfolio of cattle stations.

The consortium of the Buntine, Brinkworth, Harris and Oldfield families, led by Northern Territory cattleman Sterling Buntine, is expected to bid about $385 million for Kidman, topping the $365m offered by Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and its minority Chinese partner Shanghai CRED.

Mr Buntine has recruited federal MPs Bob Katter and Nick Xenophon to back his proposal, appearing at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday to push the case for an entirely local bid.

“We’re not here to have a crack at foreign investment ... all we’re here to say is that we’re as good as anyone on this deal,” Mr Buntine said.

“We’re full private operators and we believe we can get more efficiencies out of the Kidman ­operation than it’s currently got, which is part of the reason why we can offer the sort of money we’re talking about.”

But several hurdles remain for the so-called BBHO group, ­including its plan to break up the cattle station portfolio, a concern to some within the extended Kidman family, which still owns the pastoral company.

Kidman is one of the country’s largest beef producers, covering 101,000sq km across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

BBHO will meet bankers in Sydney today, and should a bid go ahead Kidman would still have to provide Mrs Rinehart first rights to match or better the price.

There has been some disquiet in South Australia about some of the families involved in the consortium, including the Brinkworths, who were accused a decade ago of allowing about 800 cattle to suffer by being “starved to death” during a drought.

That case was thrown out of court after key evidence was ruled inadmissable after a bureaucratic bungle by an RSPCA staffer, who was later sacked.

Mr Buntine did not return calls yesterday.

Mrs Rinehart partnered with Shanghai CRED after an earlier arrangement between the ­Chinese party and another bidder, Shanghai Pengxin, collapsed following Scott Morrison’s second rejection of their takeover offer for Kidman. Shanghai CRED would own about 33 per cent of Kidman if the Hancock Prospecting bid were successful.

“Our foreign investment framework is all about ensuring that we have foreign capital where local capital is not available; here there is local capital available,” Senator Xenophon said yesterday. “Why wouldn’t you give the 100 per cent Australian bid a fair go, and right now that’s all they’re seeking.”