Sustainable Agriculture Fund’s King Island aggregation sold for $45m

THE sell-off of one of Australia’s biggest farm portfolios is complete with its last remaining property on King Island sold this week.

Sold: SAF's King Island aggregation.

THE sell-off of one of Australia’s biggest farm portfolios is complete with its last remaining property on King Island sold this week.

The Sustainable Agriculture Fund’s 6,786ha beef operation on King Island has been bought

by Tim Roberts-Thomson’s TRT Pastoral Group for a reported $45 million, one of the biggest property sales in the island’s history.

TRT Pastoral Group owns 580,000ha of land across Victoria and NSW including its flagship Howquadale Station at Mansfield and Juanbung, and Booyong Stations, near Hay.

Mr Roberts-Thomson has bought the King Island aggregation on a walk-in walkout basis including the herd of 5,500 Angus cows and their progeny

Danny Thomas, of CBRE, which negotiated the sale, said Mr Roberts-Thomson planned to continue running the property as an Angus breeding operation and will retain all existing staff.

He will integrate the property with his other beef cattle operations on the mainland.

Mr Roberts-Thomson trumped offers by at least two other bidders, including a consortium of local King Island producers.

“It was a very easy deal for the vendors and Mr Roberts-Thomson will settle before Christmas,” Mr Thomas said.

The sale follows the successful disposal in September of all SAF’s mainland properties to several buyers in deals valued at more than $100 million.

SAF was owned by a group of superannuation funds and run by management company AgCap, but the fund decided earlier this year to quit its 24,000ha farm investment despite healthy returns over its seven-year ownership.

The King Island aggregation has been a very good investment for SAF, which paid a reported $27 million for it in 2010.

The sale of SAF’s Tasmanian dairy farms is also close to being finalised with settlement expected in March.

TRT Pastoral Group grew out of Mr Roberts-Thomson’s contract cleaning business Mermaid Property Services, as well as his cash windfall from the gradual disposal of his family stake in Hutchison Telecoms Australia, which he founded in 1989 along with his brother Barry Roberts-Thomson.