Shanghai’s Orient Agriculture to sell Undabri and Yambocully Aggregation

A 13,920ha southern Queensland irrigated and dryland cropping portfolio with major water entitlements is expected to fetch nine-figure offers.

A group of Chinese agricultural investors has listed its mammoth southern Queensland dryland and irrigated cropping portfolio for sale, where it is expected to attract nine-figure offers.

The 13,920ha Undabri and Yambocully Aggregation, 15km northwest of Goondiwindi in Queensland’s highly sought Border Rivers region, has been listed for sale by Orient Agriculture about a decade after it acquired the first portion of the aggregation.

The two contiguous holdings, Undabri (10,444ha) and Yambocully (3475ha), regarded as two distinct hubs, are expected to field offers in the vicinity of $100 million, as a whole including a substantial water portfolio.

The Shanghai investment group initially purchased the Undabri property in 2014 from real estate and agricultural land identity Craig Doyle, for a reported $30 million.

Undabri was previously home to the Sylvester family’s Merino sheep stud for about six decades.

In the following years Orient Agriculture acquired and amalgamated six properties in total, including the Yambocully property from former National Farmers’ Federation president Peter Corish and sons Simon and Nigel’s Corish Farms.

The massive Undabri property was once home to a Merino sheep stud.

During Orient Agriculture’s tenure, Australian-owned and operated rural asset management group Customised Farm Management has managed the properties.

JLL director agribusiness Clayton Smith said the sale offered institutional scale or an add-on opportunity for existing private operators near Goondiwindi.

“The tightly held Border Rivers region is considered to be one of the premier irrigated and dryland cropping regions in Australia, representing a mature agricultural investment landscape underpinned by a large institutional footprint, minimising peer risk,” Mr Smith said.

“It’s a blue-chip asset with strong appeal to local, domestic and foreign buyers, noting there is potential to engage Customised Farm Management beyond the sale.

Substantial water entitlements are on offer as part of the Undabri and Yambocully Aggregation sale.

“During the past decade, the aggregation has been thoughtfully developed to ensure reliability and productivity.”

Across the aggregation 1700ha is irrigable with a further 8110ha of arable dryland farming where winter cereals, canola and chickpea crops have predominantly been grown. The property is also suited to cotton and sorghum crops.

There are also substantial water entitlements attached to the property including 8399ML of supplemented and unsupplemented water via the Yambocully Scheme (plus overland flow).

Entitlements allow more than 15,000ML of annual irrigation water usage if available to pump and more than 10,500ML can be stored on farm.

The aggregation is for sale offered in one-line or as separate assets, with a two-stage expressions of interest campaign closing November 23 at 4pm.