Gina Rinehart leads high-profile cattle station sales

A collection of Aussie cattle stations bigger than some European countries has been listed for sale.

A collection of cattle stations bigger than some European countries has been listed for sale in northern Australia.

Experts say a rush of rural properties on to the market in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory in recent weeks is being driven by record strong buyer demand stemming from low interest rates, soaring agricultural commodity prices and improved seasonal conditions.

The listings include three high-profile portfolios of land totalling 3.5 million hectares – bigger than Belgium (3.05 million hectares) and Slovenia (2.03 million hectares) – worth at least $485 million combined.

Gina Rinehart’s cattle stations are expected to fetch about $300 million.

The portfolios include:

Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s offering of seven cattle stations, covering 1.88 million hectares of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which are expected to fetch about $300 million;

Stanbroke Pastoral Company’s 438,000-hectare Miranda Downs Station at Normanton in Queensland, which was listed last week with expectations of $150 million; and

Former Australian Agricultural Company chairman Nick Burton-Taylor’s 211,000-hectare Bellevue and Nychum stations at Chillagoe, about 300km northwest of Cairns. Bellevue and Nychum are expected to fetch upwards of $35 million.

The one million-hectare Walhallow Station in the Northern Territory’s Barkly Tablelands.

Danny Thomas, senior director of specialist rural agency LAWD, said buyer demand for high quality grazing properties in northern Australia was outstripping supply as “established players look to take the opportunity to aggressively expand amidst continuing strong commodity prices and record low interest rates”.

The Weekly Times understands these properties could soon be joined on the market by the one million-hectare Walhallow Station in the Northern Territory’s Barkly Tablelands region, currently owned by Australian-born, Bahamas-based billionaire Brett Blundy.

Miranda Downs Station homestead complex.

Mr Blundy, whose BB Retail Capital has stakes in retail chains such as Adairs and Universal Store, has been an active player in the Northern Territory beef industry in recent decades having put together almost 2.5 million hectares of land. He paid Paraway Pastoral Company $100 million for Walhallow in 2015 in what was then believed to be the single-biggest cattle station deal in Australia’s history.

Mr Blundy also owns three stations at nearby Elliot: the 707,800-hectare Beetaloo, the 316,900-hectare Amungee Amungee and the 346,900-hectare Mungabroom.

BBRC did not respond to a request for comment on Walhallow while rumoured selling agent Ben Cameron, of Bentleys International Advisory, declined to comment.

Originally published as Gina Rinehart leads high-profile cattle station sales