Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is believed to be offloading property assets in her rural portfolio that are expected to reap hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is understood that staff were told of the potential sales of cattle stations or the selldown of interests in the stations in a memo sent out on Monday.
A spokesperson for Hancock Prospecting said the sale is part of a move to reap profits from a sale and redeploy the funds to focus on more agricultural and cattle opportunities.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has an estimated personal wealth of $22.25bn, increasing in the past year as her privately held Hancock Prospecting unveiled a record profit with the rising price of iron ore. Hancock Prospecting has been contacted for comment.
She is one of the largest landholders in the country, with the acquisition of S Kidman & Co cattle grazing properties for $386.5m in 2016 among her series of purchases.
The investment was done with Chinese joint-venture partner Shanghai CRED, making Hancock Prospecting a 67 per cent owner in the cattle company.
She has earlier described the investments as being part of her commitment to invest in regional Australia, with a particular focus on northern Australia.
Among the properties likely to be divested or sold down in part is the 20,000-head feedlot Phoenix Park near Katherine, which was purchased by Ms Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, in 2016 from the Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Others include the Aroona Station in the Northern Territory, which was purchased by her company in 2017.
Another property up for sale is the Willeroo Cattle Station, 100km west of Katherine in the Northern Territory, which Rinehart purchased the same year from Indonesian owners Agri International.
At the time, it had 20,000 cattle on 171,000 hectares.
It is run in connection with Aroona.
The Northern Territory cattle stations purchased in 2016, Riveren and Inverway, are also said to be earmarked for divestment. The properties are located southwest of Katherine, covering over 550,000 hectares of land with a combined herd of 40,000 head of cattle.
Another is Ruby Plains in the Kimberley region in Western Australia.
Mrs Rinehart’s family has a long legacy of rural property ownership.
Her forebears were involved in establishing the first stations in northwest Australia, including Ashburton Downs.
In 2017, Mrs Rinehart agreed to export live cattle to China in a deal that will be worth more than $500m if maximum export capacity is hit.
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