Victorian family sell tomato glasshouse in nine-figure deal

A 21ha glasshouse facility in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley has been sold in an off-market, sale-and-leaseback arrangement. See the details.

A Sydney-based ASX-listed real estate fund manager has acquired a 21ha Goulburn Valley glasshouse facility, reportedly in a nine-figure deal.

Centuria Capital Group has purchased the Katunga Fresh facility, located 45km north of Shepparton, acquired from the Van den Goor family, via an off-market, sale-and-leaseback deal with a 20-year triple-net lease.

The value of the deal is believed to be worth about $100 million, lifting Centuria’s glasshouse portfolio to $450 million and more than 100 hectares.

The asset will be owned by the unlisted, open-ended Centuria Agriculture Fund, with Katunga Fresh to continue operating the facility, led by Peter van den Goor.

Operated by the van den Goor family for 20 years after moving to Australia from the Netherlands, Katunga Fresh uses lighting technology to increase growing hours, offsetting the seasonality of

Production, with the capacity to produce about 16,000 tonnes of truss tomatoes per year.

Centuria Capital Group have purchased the 21ha Katunga Fresh, located north of Shepparton.

“The Katunga facility is a high-quality precision farming asset, which

aligns perfectly with our investment strategies and is backed by a strong tenant covenant,” Centuria Joint chief executive Jason Huljich said.

“We are pleased to partner with Katunga Fresh whose focus on

high-efficiency production systems provide it with a genuine point of difference in the marketplace and enables the operator to generate a consistently profitable supply of fresh tomatoes and capsicums all-year-round,” Centuria Head of Agriculture Andrew Tout also said.

“Katunga Fresh has been operating since 2004 and was one of the nation’s first adopters of glasshouse production. It continues to be an innovator within the precision farming market.”

With $21.1 billion in total assets under management, Centuria has about $650 million invested in agricultural assets, representing about 3 per cent of its portfolio.

Centuria’s first foray into real estate was Perth-based fund manager Primewest for $600 million in 2021. Since then they have acquired the 33ha Flavorite Glasshouse near Warragul for $170 million, a 20ha facility at Guyra NSW last year.