Huge NSW farms snapped up in $70m deal

A mammoth Canadian pension fund has snapped up Duxton Farms’ Timberscombe Aggregation in a huge deal.

ASX-listed Duxton Farms have sold their 8400ha Timberscombe Aggregation to PSP Investments’ Altora Ag.

ASX-listed Duxton Farms have offloaded more than 8000ha of central NSW farmland, announcing they have sold their Timberscombe Aggregation in a huge deal.

In a statement released to the ASX, Duxton Farms said they had sold the 8432ha broadacre cropping aggregation in a $70 million transaction with Altora Ag, the cropping subsidiary of huge Canadian pension fund PSP Investments.

The transaction has been completed on a bare terms, with settlement due in four weeks, subject to FIRB approval.

“Timberscombe has been a significant part of Duxton’s broadacre farming portfolio since 2008, and it has been a fantastic assets for us,” Duxton Farms chairman Ed Peter said in a statement.

“This sale allows us to redeploy capital into growth and development projects that are better suited to the company’s expanding strategic scope, and to pay a small distribution to investors as a thanks for their support so far.”

The Timberscombe comprises 8430ha near West Wyalong, in central NSW.

Listed for sale in December last year, the Timberscombe Aggregation was the largest and most valuable property in Duxton Farms’ $158 million portfolio, valued at $59 million earlier in 2023, following an 11.3 per cent increase in land value year-on-year.

Located 30km northeast of West Wyalong, NSW, the Timberscombe aggregation equated to about a third of Duxton Farms’ central NSW farmland, which comprises 23,406ha, 10,035ML water entitlements and 6798ML of leased water entitlements in total.

When announcing the intention to sell Timberscombe Aggregation, the company said it was overexposed in the central NSW region, and would redeploy the Timberscombe sale capital into existing projects in the NT and Victoria.

LAWD director Ian Robertson and senior director Danny Thomas handled the sale of the Timberscombe Aggregation.

In previous seasons the Timberscombe Aggregation has cropped wheat, barley, canola and chickpeas.

For PSP Investments, the pension fund for the Canadian public service, including the world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the transaction takes the value of their Australian agricultural portfolio to well in excess of $7 billion.

Their Altora Ag subsidiary was launched in late 2022 as PSP rolled up its existing BFB and Daybreak Cropping ventures.

Cropping about 153,000ha of land across 65 properties in Queensland, NSW and South Australia, Altora Ag also owns notable central NSW properties including the 2077ha Carinyah-Euline, at West Wyalong and the 1123ha Alroon, at Temora NSW.

They also own a 7321ha four-farm aggregation at Boort in northern Victoria.