Rinehart beefs up cattle empire

Gina Rinehart has added the Warrabah Station in New England to her already substantial holdings.

Hancock Prospecting executive chairman Gina Rinehart.

The run of deal-making in the cattle industry has continued, with entrepreneur Gina Rinehart adding the Warrabah Station in New England to her already substantial holdings.

A run of agricultural purchases by the billionaire mining magnate is broadening the scope of her empire and diversifying its earnings.

The tycoon’s Pastoral Properties unit already has another five properties in the area and has expanding its Wagyu beef holdings.

The Rinehart-controlled Hancock Prospecting is among the largest landholders in the country after the Australian Outback Beef venture bought a series of cattle-grazing properties from S Kidman & Co for $386.5m in 2016. That deal with Chinese business partner Cred Pastoral is already producing returns although the pair flagged longer-term plans to pour more capital into operations.

In 2017 Hancock Prospecting also snapped up the Willeroo Cattle Station from its Indonesian owners. The station, about 100km west of Katherine in the Northern Territory, spans 171,000ha, holding around 20,000 head of cattle. Hancock Prospecting also bought Aroona Cattle Station that year.

The Pastoral Properties business reportedly already has three Lyndhurst properties and two Kingstown properties aiding its move into beef production as it has about 23,000 wagyu.

Ms Rinehart still has a number of resources plays beyond the massive Roy Hill iron ore mine, including investments in London-listed Sirius Minerals, which is building a mine in North York Moors National Park in North Yorkshire, England.

Hancock Prospecting subsidiary Redstone Corporation last year won the battle for Atlas Iron in a contest that also drew fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest.

The company also held a stake in Victorian oil and gas play Lakes Oil and South African manganese miner Jupiter Mines.

The cattle industry has seen big shifts this week with British buyout king Guy Hands to emerge with a cornerstone stake in the nation’s biggest private cattle company via a management buyout of the Consolidated Pastoral Company worth more than $600m. The Australian revealed the move on Tuesday and it came more than two years after his Terra Firma Capital Partners put CPC up for sale with a reported price of up to $1bn. The play could also allow Australian superannuation funds, wealthy investors and family offices to later buy in.