$45 million-plus price tag for major NSW cropping farms

An ASX-listed agricultural investor is preparing to sell their largest NSW property, which covers more than 6000 hectares near Forbes. See the details.

ASX-listed agricultural investment group Duxton Farms is preparing to sell its largest NSW cropping property, after offloading a $70 million aggregation earlier this year.

Duxton announced on Thursday it was selling the 6020-hectare Kentucky farms, a mixed cropping property in the Wirrinya district, 30km southwest of Forbes in Central West NSW.

Kentucky is the largest holding part of Duxton’s extensive NSW cropping assets, which include the 3477-hectare West Plains, 2148-hectare Yarranlea, 1400-hectare Walla Wallah, 768-hectare Lenborough and 535-hectare Merriment at Forbes, and the 940-hectare Cowaribin at Bedgerabong NSW.

The company also owns a 1185-hectare pistachio development at Piambie in northern Victoria and leases the 141,000-hectare Mountain Valley Station in the NT, with its most recent portfolio valuation measuring $130.6 million.

In that report the Kentucky farms was recorded as the most valuable property in the portfolio at $45.65 million.

Offers greater than $45 million are expected for the Kentucky farms, which will not include the 400-hectare Roselyn portion of the property that has functionally become part of nearby West Plains farm.

Duxton Farms are offloading their largest mixed cropping property, Kentucky, near Forbes NSW.

Kentucky consists of predominantly arable cropping farmland with timbered grazing land and remnant vegetation as the balance.

Structures include three habitable dwellings, extensive rural shedding and grain storage facilities.

“The board continues to action its plan to shift away from dryland cropping in order to expand and broaden its exposure to the Australian agricultural sector (both in terms of geographic footprint and mix of commodities produced),” Duxton Farms said in a statement to the ASX.

“Strategic divestments such as the sale of the Kentucky property are intended to facilitate Duxton Farms’ investment in existing growth projects in Victoria and the Northern Territory and provide the company with greater flexibility in pursuing its stated strategic objectives, which may include further direct acquisitions and equity investments.”

LAWD Agribusiness is handling the sale via an expressions of interest closing December 11, with a sale expected to be completed by early next year.

The listing comes after Duxton sold the 8432-hectare Timberscombe broadacre cropping aggregation to Altora Ag, the cropping subsidiary of huge Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, in a $70 million transaction in April this year.

Located 30km northeast of West Wyalong, NSW, the Timberscombe aggregation equated to about a third of Duxton Farms’ central NSW farmland at the time, which comprised 23,406-hectares, 10,035 megalitres of water entitlements and 6798 megalitres of leased water entitlements in total.

When announcing the intention to sell Timberscombe Aggregation, the company said it was overexposed in the central NSW region, and planned to redeploy the Timberscombe sale capital into its existing projects at the Mountain Valley Station in the NT and the Piambie orchard development.