Massive Victorian-WA farm portfolio tipped to fetch $400 million

A 42,900-hectare portfolio of farmland in Victoria’s Mallee and WA has hit the market where it is expected to command a staggering sum.

Project Jaal, a 42,931ha portfolio of farmland in Victoria’s Mallee and Western Australia has hit the market.

Spanning almost 43,000 hectares across Victoria’s Mallee region and southern WA, a massive mixed-farming portfolio has hit the market in one of the most valuable public offerings this year.

Named Project Jaal, the 42,931ha portfolio has been listed for sale as a sale and leaseback arrangement by its high net worth Australian expat vendor.

Specific details about the portfolio and vendor remain subject to confidentiality agreements, but it is understood construction of the portfolio has taken place during the majority of the past decade by a private individual who returned to Australia.

More than 16,000ha of the portfolio comprises farmland in Victoria’s Mallee region including some at Natya, 60km northwest of Swan Hill.

The 26,834ha balance of the portfolio is held in multiple locations throughout Western Australia, with some to the west of the south coastal town of Esperance, at Munglinup.

There is also farmland held in the portfolio to the east of Esperance.

Offers for the portfolio are expected to reach circa $400 million.

The property is for sale with commencing rent of $16 million annually on a triple net lease, which is an agreement where the future tenant (in this case, the current vendor) will pay for expenses such as on-farm maintenance costs.

The Project Jaal aggregation has been formed during the majority of the last decade.

A WALE (weighted annual lease expiry) lease has been offered with an initial 20-year term, followed by two 10-year options, annual CPI-based rent reviews and market rent reviews every five years.

LAWD’s Danny Thomas and Elizabeth Doyle are handling the sale alongside PWC’s Jaclyn Hope and Greg Quinn with expressions of interest closing July 6 at 12pm.

The portfolio is expected to attract the interest of institutional investors, particularly international buyers.

Project Jaal is being marketed as capable of producing up to 150,000 tonnes of cereal and oilseed annually, while also comprising farmland which has been allocated for an Angus beef enterprise that is building to a 10,000-head herd.

The Project Jaal comprises farmland used for cereal and oilseed cropping and an expanding Angus cattle herd.

The property is also being marketed as “environmentally and sustainability focused implementing sustainable, regenerative farming techniques”.

Earlier this year Excel Farms, backed by Canada’s Fiera Comox Partners and operated by Nick Paterson – the son of prominent Western District landholders and ACE Radio owners Rowly and Judy Paterson – paid more than $100 million for the 8554ha Cherylton Farms operation near Kojonup in Western Australia’s Great Southern Region.

Then in a $40m-plus deal a Victorian farming family purchased the six-farm, 12,000ha Southwark Soaks aggregation, also located in Western Australia’s Great Southern region.