Gina Rinehart’s bid for Kidman empire tipped to get FIRB nod

The bid by Gina Rinehart and China’s Gui Guojie for the Kidman cattle ­empire is expected to win FIRB backing.

The $365 million bid by Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, and Chinese billionaire Gui Guojie for the Kidman cattle ­empire is expected to win the backing of the Foreign Investment Review Board after yesterday receiving widespread political and public approval.

The bid for nine of the Kidman outback stations and 77,000sq km of outback country by Hancock Prospecting and Mr Gui’s Shanghai CRED real estate conglomerate — approved late on Sunday by the board of S. Kidman and Co — ​would deliver Ms Rinehart’s Australian company two-thirds ownership.

“I want to drive around the countryside ... saying this is overwhelmingly owned by Australians,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who has previously expressed reservation about the sale of farmland to Chinese companies.

Malcolm Turnbull pointed out that Kidman, owned by 54 descendants of Sir Sidney Kidman, was technically 34 per cent owned by foreign-based family members. “It’s great to see Australians investing in Australian agriculture, but the matter will go before the Foreign Investment Review Board because there is a minority foreign investor,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Joyce said he had not spoken to his friend Mrs Rinehart about the Kidman bid and would take an arm’s-length approach, given she was a major donor to the Nationals.

It is understood that Kidman is confident the Hancock-Shanghai CRED bid will be ­successful.

Another bidder is not expected to emerge with a better offer in the next four weeks, as ­required under the Corporations Act.

The federal government ­vetoed two consecutive bids led by the Chinese Shanghai Pengxin group — one of which ­included Shanghai CRED as a junior partner — in November and April as being contrary to the national interest.

Sophie Mirabella, media spokeswoman for Hancock Prospecting, confirmed last night that the Australian Outback Beef joint offer had not yet been submitted to FIRB for ­approval, but would be in the near future.

Ms Mirabella, a former federal Liberal MP, said making an FIRB submission was complicated and there had been ­little time, with the consortium finalised only in the past week, “but any company putting in a bid wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t have a good hope for success”.

Brent Finlay, president of the National Farmers Federation, welcomed the co-investment model with majority Australian ownership being pioneered by Ms Rinehart and Mr Gui.

“I don’t think you ever want to lock in rigid or set proportions of (politically acceptable) foreign ownership but in principle we applaud co-investment by Australian and foreign companies,” he said. “This is the model that appears to suits the selling of Kidman, but you must have flexibility if you want to maximise opportunities and ­attract foreign capital to Australian agriculture.”

Ms Rinehart’s already owns 10 cattle properties in WA, the Northern Territory, southern Queensland and NSW valued at more than $200m.