goFARM sells Yarrabee Park to PSP Investments, Daybreak cropping, in $60m-plus deal

A pension fund with links to the world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police has splashed out huge money for a Riverina farm.

Canada’s love affair with Australian rural farmland has continued with the PSP Investment group completing a major deal to secure a prime piece of Australian cropping country.

In a deal believed to be worth upwards of $60m, the Canadian Crown corporation has purchased 11,260ha Yarrabee Park, at Morundah, from goFARM.

Backed by PSP Investments, Daybreak Cropping has purchased Yarrabee Park, adding to their current ownership and operation of seven large-scale cropping aggregations covering more than 75,000ha in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia.

The 11,260ha farm, near Morundah in the Murray region of NSW, was first listed on the market in September last year with a $60m-plus price tag.

After a considerable sale process, PSP secured the ownership of the farm with the purchase approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board last month.

PSP Investments has secured Yarrabee Park for a top-dollar price.

goFARM managing director Liam Lenaghan said Yarrabee Park was a significant part of their holdings over the past decade.

“Yarrabee Park is a very special asset, and over the past eight years we have improved it further with a focus on three strategic pillars: sustainability, productivity and operational efficiency,” he said.

“This has translated into exceptional and sustainable profitability.”

In 2020 Yarrabee Park produced about 37,500 tonnes of grain and fodder and was expected to produce at least 41,000 tonnes in 2021.

Yarrabee Park has been sold.

The farm also includes a four-bedroom homestead, 740ha lateral spray irrigation, three irrigation bores and is home to a 2600ha proposed solar farm project.

The sale of Yarrabee Park comes after goFARM listed its prized Cobram horticulture portfolio, Sandmount Farms, for sale last month with a $250m price tag.

PSP Investments have also been active in the Australian rural property market offloading a portfolio of farms in the NSW Riverina which could be worth more than $70m.

Largely thanks to PSP Investments, Canada also tops the charts as one of Australia’s biggest asset holders, according to the latest data.