Jason Yeap, Hong Kong investors buy stake in Tipperary stations

A consortium of local and Hong Kong investors has paid about $49m for a half-stake in the Tipperary Group of Stations.

A consortium has bought a half-stake in the Tipperary holdings.

A consortium of local and Hong Kong investors led by Melbourne property investor Jason Yeap has paid about $49 million to buy a half stake in the famed Tipperary Group of Stations, striking up a partnership with high-profile barrister Allan Myers QC and unveiling plans to rework the properties.

The group, described by Mr Yeap as just a handful of investors, became part-owners of the Northern Territory pastoral leases Tipperary, Litchfield and Douglas West in April and have since poured capital into improving them.

Mr Myers has been gradually selling down his holding of five stations and offloaded Fish River five years ago, Elizabeth Downs two years ago, and the Douglas and Douglas South properties last year.

He called in boutique house Flagstaff Partners to run a sale late last year as buyers sought out cattle properties.

The move by the Yeap consortium to acquire a half interest is in keeping with other major rural purchases that have seen combinations of Australian and offshore groups chasing the $370m S. Kidman pastoral empire. The Tipperary purchase was approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The station has a colourful history. Its previous owners include former property magnate Warren Anderson, who purchased Tipperary in the mid-1980s.

He transformed the cattle property into a home for at least 1800 exotic animals but sold the property in 2003.

The adjoining properties the group led by Mr Yeap has ­acquired span an enormous 3863sq km.

While he is better known for owning Melbourne office towers and shopping centres, Mr Yeap quipped that in property “one must go to where there are opportunities”.

“You can’t follow the crowd,” he said. “This is a property play as well as an agricultural play.”

The station, he said, presented a number of opportunities, particularly as rural production ­assumes a greater focus as Asian export markets grow.

“It’s where the future of the country lies,” he said.

But he is mainly interested in making the property run well — particular with partner Mr Myers, with whom he sits on the National Gallery of Australia Council.

“We meet regularly and we talk about things close to our hearts,” Mr Yeap said.

“We have a partner, in Allan, that probably can give us the best chance to do very well in this ­process. We recognise we need to invest in it and need to be patient with it.” The consortium is planning to make capital investments to bring the station up to its optimum value.

“We are doing what we can do to bring the productivity of the land up and clearing and making it productive,” Mr Yeap said.

“It’s not just cattle, its also about potential cropping; there is plenty of water to do good crops.”