Who really owns & runs Primary Holdings International?

April 30th, 2009

Primary Holdings International has bought Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) cattle stations earlier this year however little is known about PHI. Though the Primary Holdings International website says it will be online in ‘early 2009’, it is yet to happen. It appears Guernsey-registered Origa Resource Partners have stumped up about half the money – presumably as […]

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NAPCo selling Roxborough Downs

April 4th, 2009

Roxborough Downs, located SW of Mt Isa (on the road from Boulia to Alice Springs), is to be sold to fund expansion of NAPCo’s Wainui Feedlot, located west of Toowoomba on Queensland’s Darling Downs. The agent is Dick Allpass of Elders.

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Macquarie’s Paraway Pastoral Company

March 23rd, 2009

Paraway Pastoral Company is the trading name for the Macquarie Pastoral Fund. Set up in 2007, seven properties were apparently purchased in the Riverina district of NSW, including well known Merino sheep studs Pooginook and Stud Park North (near Jerilderie), Steam Plains (between Conargo & Carrathool), mixed sheep & cropping property The Bulls Run (west […]

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Australian cattle station sales

March 21st, 2009

The Sydney Morning Herald has published a comprehensive and interesting overview of cattle station corporate ownership changes over the last 6-12 months, with comments on expected changes. Written by Paul Myers, the unusually good quality article well illustrates the fact that he’s been writing about Australian agriculture for several decades (as distinct from the usual […]

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Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB)

February 12th, 2009

The Australian Federal Government keeps an eye on what is being bought up by overseas interests – in particular urban and rural land sales, and investment into Australian-owned businesses – via the Foreign Investment Review Board. The FIRB examines prospective overseas purchases which are above certain percentages in value – considering whether the sale is […]

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AACo sale of properties to Primary Holdings International

December 31st, 2008

On 22 December 2008 the AACo announced that Primary Holdings International were buying 5 AACo stations, and it is speculated to be a cluster of properties located between Queensland’s Cloncurry and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Primary Holdings International is a bit of a mystery at present, with the PHI website still under construction, and stuff-all […]

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Consolidated Pastoral Company sale

December 31st, 2008

Apparently Consolidated Pastoral Company, the pastoral company (90% owned by Consolidated Press) built up by Kerry Packer since the initial purchase of Newcastle Waters station in 1983, is on the market for $425 million. James Packer and family wouldn’t sell the jewel in the crown, Ellerston, in a fit, however its not yet known which […]

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Investment in Agriculture

August 17th, 2008

An excellent discussion on investment in agriculture, on ABC Television’s Landline programme: http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s2240230.htm Directors on the Board of Management of Pastoral Companies used to consist almost entirely of board members who had a genuine hands-on (as in ‘hands dirty’) rural background. Unfortunately this has slowly been changing over recent decades, with the board members of […]

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Buying a Cattle Station

October 11th, 2007

Almost all the largest cattle stations are owned by companies due to the high amounts of capital required to run them. The biggest have a dozen or more people living and working on them. That’s a lot of housing to provide and maintain and a lot of wages to pay, especially when seasonal conditions or […]

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