Gina Rinehart sells Riveren and Inverway stations to Peter and Jane Hughes for reported $100m

Billionaire Gina Rinehart has sold two of her premier cattle stations in a mammoth deal to an Aussie cattle-farming giant.

Australian billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart has sold the final two cattle stations, which were part of her mammoth $300m listing in 2021, to an Aussie cattle farming giant.

Hancock Agriculture last year announced it was selling seven cattle stations and one feedlot in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Riveren and Inverway stations have reportedly been bought for about $100 million by Peter and Jane Hughes, of the Hughes Pastoral Co and Georgina Pastoral Co.

During the past two decades the Hughes family and its two associated cattle companies, Hughes Pastoral and Georgina Pastoral have risen to be a superpower in Australia’s beef industry.

The Hughes family are a major player in the northern Australian cattle production, owning the Georgina Pastoral Co which carries around 100,000 cattle across three Queensland stations at Lake Nash, Caldervale and Keeroongooloo.

The Hughes family’s wealth last year was estimated at a conservative $600-$700 million, ranking 91st in The Australian newspaper’s 2021 Rich List.

The family paid $215 million last year to secure the 438,000ha Miranda Downs station at Normanton in the Gulf region of Queensland.

Peter Hughes on Tierawoomba Station in central Queensland. The Hughes family has built one of the largest privately owned Wagyu beef herds in the world.

The Riveren and Inverway stations are adjoining and cover 550,000ha and carry 40,000 head of cattle, which were reportedly included in the deal.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture secured the farms in deal worth more than $60m in 2016.

Earlier this year, portfolio selling agents Elders confirmed Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello’s Crown Point Pastoral had completed a 3.26 million hectare purchase, which included several of Hancock Agriculture’s assets.

After completing deals for the seven stations and one feedlot, Ms Rinehart, via Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co, have reduced their cattle station holdings by almost 20 per cent.