Gina Rinehart spends $30m to beef up her Asian exposure

Gina Rinehart has beaten fellow billionaires Andrew Forrest and Kerry Stokes to the prize.

"Fossil Downs" A Kimberley Icon 394,028 Ha (973,665 acres). Image taken from Elders Real Estate Website. www.eldersrealestate.com.au This property has reportedly just been bought by Gina Rinehart.

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has beaten fellow billionaires Andrew Forrest and Kerry Stokes in a race to buy Kimberley cattle station Fossil Downs in a deal that increases her exposure to Asia’s growing demand for Australian beef.

She paid about $30 million to buy the 400,000ha property under an agreement finalised on Friday, just days after Australia signed a historic deal for live ­cattle exports to China.

The purchase of Fossil Downs comes a year after Mrs Rinehart secured the nearby Liveringa and Nerrima stations as part of a $65m joint venture with the Milne AgriGroup.

A spokesman for Mrs Rinehart yesterday confirmed the sale. It is believed Mrs Rinehart was outbid by some of the eight rival bidders, which included foreign entities.

However, she was able to convince Fossil Downs’s long-term owners, John and Annette Henwood, to sell her the station on the basis she would maintain it as a major export operation.

Fossil Downs, about 50km northeast of Fitzroy Crossing, boasts 15,000 head of cattle and a historic two-storey homestead with expansive gardens. It is the first time it has been offered for sale since it was established by Mrs Henwood’s family in 1882.

Mrs Rinehart has been steadily expanding her agricultural interests.

As well as her cattle properties in the Kimberley, she recently bought a Wagyu cattle property near Dubbo in NSW and invested in a dairy farm in Western Australia’s southwest.

Mr Forrest, chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, has also added to his existing agricultural holdings with the purchase of WA’s largest beef processor, Harvey Beef.

Mr Stokes recently snapped up a station on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island for $4.7m.