Terra Firma chairman leads consortium to buyout CPC

The chairman of UK-based Terra Firma Capital, the majority shareholder of Consolidated Pastoral Company, is leading a consortium to acquire the rest of the pastoral empire.

CPC’s 23,159ha Central Queensland holding Comely Station sold for $50 million earlier this year.

BRITISH investor Guy Hands is leading a consortium to buy the remainder of what was once one of Australia’s biggest pastoral empires, Consolidated Pastoral Company.

Mr Hands is the chairman and founder of UK-based private equity firm Terra Firma Capital, the majority shareholder of CPC.

CPC confirmed in a statement Mr Hands and his family, together with CPC management, were “progressing a proposal to acquire the company”.

Guy Hands.

The Hands family would provide a “cornerstone commitment and invest alongside CPC management”, and other investors will be invited to participate in the buyout, the statement said.

CPC chief executive Troy Setter said it was a great outcome for the company.

“Long-term, patient capital will enable us to continue to invest in our people, our land and our cattle which will not only benefit CPC but the broader agricultural industry in Australia,” Mr Setter said in a statement.

CPC chief executive Troy Setter.

It comes more than 18 months after CPC announced the divestment of its portfolio worth about $1 billion.

Since then, it has offloaded about a third of its 16 cattle stations, which it owned across northern WA through the Northern Territory down to southern Queensland.

In June, CPC sold 245,550ha Ucharonidge Station in the Northern Territory to Malcolm Harris’ Cleveland Agriculture for a reported $30 million.

Cleveland Agriculture also bought 852,300ha Nockatunga Station in Thargomindah, Queensland in October last year for $50 million.

Vietnamese investment group, Clean Agriculture & International Tourism, snapped up three of CPC’s properties in a deal understood to be worth $135 million.

The properties spanned more than 740,000ha and included Auvergne and Newry Station in the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory and Argyle Downs Station in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia.

Cattle king Sterling Buntine also bought two CPC properties — 80,000ha Mimong Station in North West Queensland for $20 million and 23,159ha Central Queensland holding Comely Station for $50 million.

It is understood the remainder of the portfolio is valued at between $600 million and $700 million.

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CPC remains one of Australia’s biggest landholders with 3.2 million hectares of land and a carrying capacity of about 300,000 head of cattle.

The company also has a 90 per cent interest in a joint venture that owns and operates two feedlots in Indonesia.