Coulton family buy Kalanga cotton aggregation from Hancock Agricultural Investment Group for $80m

A family from northern NSW has secured what was a foreign owned Queensland cotton aggregation for a whopping $80m.

One of Australia’s premier cotton holdings has a new set of owners after the Kalanga aggregation was sold to a family farming operation in a deal worth around $80m.

Boston-based Hancock Agricultural Investment Group placed their 12,840ha cotton holding on the market in mid-2021, with a price tag of more than $70 million.

But now the aggregation is back in Australian hands after the Coulton family, via Morella Agriculture, from Boggabilla in a NSW secured the deal.

The Coulton family are the pioneers of the cotton industry in southern Queensland’s MacIntyre Valley and took the chance to chase an expansion.

The Morella Agriculture business involves David and Kim Coulton and their three sons, Andrew, Thomas and Sam.

They operate across a number of properties totalling a massive 809,371ha spread from Thargomindah to Goondiwindi, Bungunya and Toobeah in Queensland as well as from Boggabilla to Ebor in northern NSW.

Nutrien Harcourts Goondiwindi real estate manager Andrew Jakins and LAWD’s Danny Thomas and Simon Cudmore brokered the sale.

Mr Jakins said the listing of the Kalanga aggregation drew the interest of buyers from all over.

“There was interest both local and away on the whole aggregation,” he said.

“We had some specific interest from neighbouring farmers about individual parts of the aggregation, but it ended up selling as one.

“Compared to other similar listings there was the same level of interest.

“With aggregations of this size, the buyers are limited based on the resources needed for the sale so the process can take a bit longer.”

The Kalanga aggregation is set on the flood plains of the Macintyre River and boasts six main holdings of developed irrigation, dryland farming and grazing land.

The holding is also home to a grain handling facility at the nearby town of Bungunya and two vacant town allotments in Toobeah.

The vendors, North American-based Hancock Agricultural Investment Group holds about $1 billion in farmland and water assets in Australia.

The company was founded in 1990 and now manages about US$3.7 billion worth of farmland globally.

Earlier in the week, a Northern NSW farm was sold for more than $22m, with an Australian grazier company securing the deal.