Falkiner Merino empire next in rush to sell farm

THE legendary Wanganella, Peppin­ella and Boonoke sheep stations in southern NSW are being touted to overseas buyers.

Listing confirmed: Colin Bell on his Boonoke Station near Deniliquin in the southern Riverina. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

THE historic birthplace of the modern merino sheep and Australia’s golden era of wool prosperity is for sale, with the legendary Wanganella, Peppin­ella and Boonoke sheep stations in southern NSW being touted to overseas buyers as part of a potential $330 million deal.

A Riverina pastoral ­empire known since the 1880s as the FSF Falkiner group has been quietly put on the market by its five owners, as part of the much larger Australia Food & Agriculture com­pany’s agricultural portfolio, The Australian reports.

The AFA sale of its 18 properties in southern NSW, first reported in The Weekly Times last December, was confirmed by part-owner and stockbroker Colin Bell.

The $330m asking price — for a portfolio of 18 farms covering 226,000ha clustered around ­Deniliquin, Hay and Coonamble — compares with $380m paid for the Kidman cattle empire of 10 million hectares, which sold last year to an Australian-­Chinese joint venture led by mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Overseas buyers are already circling the highly productive rural group, which includes the merino wool properties of Boonoke, Wanganella, Peppinella, Zara and Baratta — from where 80 per cent of all modern merinos can be traced — and 13,000 merino stud sheep.

Read more at The Australian