Wycheproof farms sold to Chinese-backed company Rifa Salutary

THE rapid rise of Chinese-backed pastoral company Rifa Salutary as a major agricultural player continues, with its purchase of two farms at Wycheproof in an investment worth about $9 million.

Rifa Salutary chief executive David Goodfellow.

THE  rapid rise of Chinese-backed pastoral company Rifa Salutary as a major agricultural player continues, with its purchase of two farms at Wycheproof in an investment worth about $9 million.

Rifa Salutary chief executive David Goodfellow confirmed the purchase of Kulwin Park and McNicholl’s, covering 4534ha, from father and son vendors Murray and Mich­ael Stapleton.

Mr Goodfellow confirmed the total investment, including some additional livestock and machinery, at about $9 million.

The deal brings the company’s farm buys to 15 in the past two years, the first being Blackwood Station at Dunkeld in 2014.

Mr Goodfellow said the two Wycheproof farms, and the southern Mallee generally, were a perfect fit for the company’s strategy of buying smaller, undervalued properties to aggregate and improve.

The Wycheproof properties include 2429ha of wheat, barley and canola, plus 1215ha of vetch and oats, plus 3000 sheep and 600 steers.

Rifa Salutary, the Australian arm of textile machinery giant Zhejiang Rifa Holding Group, has spent about $170 million on 12 properties in NSW and three in Victoria.