Cubbie Station sale: Macquarie Group sells $73.5m of water to federal government
The Federal Government has snapped up $73.5 million of Cubbie Station’s water entitlements, owned by the Macquarie Group.
Australia’s largest cotton farm Cubbie Station has sold $73.5m of its water entitlements to the federal government.
Details of the sale were published on the AusTender website on Monday, as part of the federal government’s bid to boost the Murray Darling Basin’s environmental flows by 450 gigalitres by the end of 2027.
Cubbie Station’s water sale was made under the name of SI Investment Holdings Limited, whose directors include the Macquarie Group’s Mira Agriculture asset performance head Jock Whittle, Cubbie Station chairman Andrew Crane and the Macquarie agricultural asset manager Colin Rigg.
The Weekly Times understands the Macquarie Group believes the sale will have no impact on Cubbie Stations productivity, with all staff being retained and the proceeds being pumped back into the property.
The Weekly Times has asked why the Macquarie group has not announced the sale to market, given the contract was executed on March 21, but is yet to receive a response.
Macquarie Asset Management bought the 93,000ha Cubbie Station at Dirranbandi in Queensland off Chinese company Shandong Ruyi for an undisclosed price in early 2022.
Macquarie Asset Management first acquired a 49 per cent share in the station in 2019, reducing Ruyi’s share of the aggregation from 80 per cent to 51 per cent.
The Cubbie Station water sale was one of 19 parcels worth a total of $105m published on the AusTender website this week.
All up the Federal Government has now spent $368.1m buying water this financial year, which is well short of the $613.4m sitting in the Water for the Environment Special Account that was due to be spent as part of the 2024-25 budget.
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