Canadians put Qld farms on the market for more than $65 million

A major cropping aggregation spanning 11,228 hectares in southern Queensland has been listed for sale by its foreign owner.

Altora Ag is selling the 11,228-hectare Kinbeachie Aggregation, located 45km from Goondiwindi in Queensland’s Borders Rivers region.

In a rare move, Australia’s largest agricultural landholder by value has listed a significant cropping aggregation in southern Queensland for sale.

Mammoth Canadian pension fund, the Public Sector Pension Fund (PSP Investments), via its cropping company Altora Ag, is selling the 11,228-hectare Kinbeachie Aggregation, located 45km from Goondiwindi in Queensland’s Border Rivers region.

It is understood Altora Ag is moving to optimise its portfolio, listing Kinbeachie for sale, where it is expected to be worth more than $65 million.

PSP Investments has owned the aggregation since February 2019 when it acquired the cropping property from US-based Proterra Investment Partners’ One Tree Agriculture for a reported $25 million.

At the time Kinbeachie was the fourth aggregation purchased by PSP’s cropping vehicle Daybreak Cropping, following the acquisition of Catumnal Farms in northern Victoria, Waddikee Farms in southern Western Australia, and Caringbah Farms on the NSW southwest slopes.

Now the Kinbeachie Aggregation comprises four properties known as Kinbeachie (3119 hectares), Birribindable (2873 hectares), Moreville (3200 hectares) and Coomonga (2035 hectares) situated within 17km of one another, producing winter and summer crops such as wheat, barley, canola, chickpeas, faba beans and sorghum.

The Kinbeachie Aggregation comprises predominantly self-mulching black-grey cracking clay soil types.

LAWD Agribusiness agents Danny Thomas, Simon Cudmore and Jaclyn Hope are handling the sale of the Kinbeachie Aggregation, via expressions of interest closing November 28.

In February last year both PSP Investments’ majority owned cropping enterprise, Daybreak Cropping and BFB merged together to create Altora Ag, Australia’s largest broadacre agribusiness spanning almost 180,000 arable hectares across 69 properties in Queensland, NSW and South Australia.

Backed by the funds from Canada’s armed forces and the world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police, PSP Investments has amassed a huge land and water portfolio worth an estimated $7.5 billion since arriving on Australian shores less than a decade ago.

In 2016 PSP established Daybreak Cropping, going on to acquire properties across NSW, QLD, VIC and WA, expanding to a total 105,000 hectares of arable dryland cropping farmland.

In 2019 PSP acquired a majority stake in BFB, merging the two four years later.