Billionaire hedge fund investor Michael Hintze pays $7.5 million for Willatook farms

BRITISH-Australian billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Michael Hintze has increased his Victorian farming interests, paying about $7.5 million for an aggregation of properties near Bendigo.

BRITISH-Australian billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Michael Hintze has increased his Victorian farming interests, paying about $7.5 million for an aggregation of properties near Bendigo.

Sir Michael, who has an estimated net worth of about $1.8 billion, has been confirmed as the buyer of the 842ha Murraba, Maloneys and Glenholme properties at Willatook, southwest of Bendigo.

The properties will be added to the MH Premium Farms stable, which since 2007 has put together a portfolio of 17 farms spread across more than 65,000ha of land in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

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MHPF has increased its presence in southeast Australia in recent years. In 2016, it paid upwards of $16 million for the historic 2573ha Deltroit Station near Adelong in southern NSW and $10 million for the 1951ha Cheviot Hills in western Victoria.

Its other southern holdings include the 4788ha Watson Park at Yarra, near Goulburn, the 4917ha Springfield at Boorowa, the 2105ha Rippling Water at Tumbarumba and the 3568ha Burrangong and the 969ha Glaisnock at Young.

Sir Michael, who founded London-based global asset management firm CQS in 1999, hosted Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at Deltroit Station ahead of their Australian tour earlier this year.