Canadian investors snap up WA farms for $50 million

Almost 10,000ha of cropping farmland in the Western Australian Wheatbelt have been offloaded for a record price.

Canadian investors have secured almost 10,000ha of cropping farmland in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region after paying a record price earlier this year.

Arkle Farms owners Paul and Deidre Cowan have sold the 9637ha holding, Varley Farms, located 80km southeast of Hyden, WA, to the cropping subsidiary of Australia’s largest farmland owner by value.

It is understood Altora Ag, the cropping arm of PSP Investments, paid about $50m for Varley Farms, adding it to their portfolio of 69 properties in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.

The transaction equates to about $5190 a hectare, which produces wheat, barley, canola and lupins crops annually.

Varley Farms was listed for sale in June last year as part of the 42,931ha Project Jaal portfolio, including 16,000ha of farmland in Victoria’s Mallee region including some at Natya, 60km northwest of Swan Hill.

The 26,834ha balance of the portfolio was held in multiple locations throughout Western Australia, with some to the west of the south coastal town of Esperance, at Munglinup.

At the time offers for the portfolio were expected to reach circa $400m with the properties for sale with a commencing rent of $16m annually on a triple net lease.

PSP Investments, via Altora Ag, have paid about $50m for the 9637ha Varley Farms, which was previously offered for sale as part of the 42,931ha Project Jaal offering.

From the remainder of the Project Jaal portfolio, the Cowan family have retained the remaining WA farmland near Bedford Harbour and the Victorian Mallee farmland, withdrawing it from the market.

LAWD’s Danny Thomas and Elizabeth Doyle plus PWC’s Jaclyn Hope (now employed by LAWD) and Greg Quinn were appointed to sell the Project Jaal portfolio last year.

Headed up by PSP Investments’ real assets and global head of natural resources investments, Marc Drouin, the superannuation giant has amassed a huge land and water portfolio worth more than $7.5b since arriving on Australian shores less than a decade ago.

Backed by the funds from Canada’s armed forces and the world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police, PSP Investments’ majority owned cropping enterprise, Daybreak Cropping and BFB merged together to create Altora Ag, Australia’s largest broadacre agribusiness spanning almost 190,000 arable hectares.

In October Altora Ag listed the 11,228ha Kinbeachie Aggregation, located 45km from Goondiwindi in Queensland’s Border Rivers region for sale, priced at more than $65m.

Earlier this year PSP Investments, via Altora Ag, paid $70m for Duxton Farms’ 8432ha Timberscombe Aggregation, located near Back Creek, NSW.