MAJOR Northern Territory cattle enterprise Walhallow aggregation is set to sell for more than $200 million, with owners Adrian and Emma Brown and Brett Blundy's private investment firm BBRC saying they will only consider offers above the benchmark figure.
Comprising of Walhallow and Cresswell Downs stations, the 1 million hectare (2.48m acre) aggregation is being offered with more than 61,000 cattle and is expected to appeal to both domestic and international investors.
Part of the appeal is suitability of the Barkly Tableland aggregation's as yet untapped asset as a resource for carbon investors and the potential for farming including dryland cotton.
The aggregation is being sold through an expression of interest process being conducted by Colliers Agribusiness.
Walhallow and Cresswell Downs have had a long history of ownership. Peter Sherwin bought the aggregation from CSR in 1982, before selling in to Janet Holmes a Court's Heytesbury Pastoral for $16.6m in 1987.
Colonial Pastoral took on the operation with 30,000 head in 1997. When the Commonwealth Bank wound up Colonial in 2009, Walhallow and Creswell Downs went to Peter Hughes and Bill Scott's Georgina Pastoral passed on the business for $169m to Paraway Pastoral Company, which sold the properties including 52,000 WIWO in 2015.
The current owners bought the operation for about $100m WIWO, including 48,000 cattle.
Current neighbours include Australian Agricultural Company's flag ship assets Anthony Lagoon and Brunette Downs on the southern and south western boundaries; Bill Darcy's Mallapunyah Springs and Kiana stations to the north, and Malcolm Harris, Benmara Station on the eastern and south eastern edges.
Colliers head of agribusiness Rawdon Briggs said the Walhallow aggregation offered more than a million hectares across two contiguous stations with a long history of increasing beef production and cattle numbers over many decades.
"The vendors have expanded and replaced water with new proven water and fencing development over the past seven years," Mr Briggs said.
"Walhallow aggregation is today an institutional grade north Australian beef enterprise with unprecedented development quality in combination with a large scale quality Brahman based herd exceeding 61,000 to be sold walk in, walk out in 2022."
Contact Rawdon Briggs, 0428 651 144, Jesse Manuel, 0421 550 242, or James Beer, 0416 859 565, Colliers Agribusiness.
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