Two Northern Territory cattle stations, covering about 620,000 hectares, have been bought by a Sydney-based investment company.
WealthCheck, managed by Sam Mitchell, this week purchased Maryfield for $38.2 million and Limbunya for $65.2 million, according to documents from the NT Land Titles Office.
AAM Investment Group, which runs agricultural operations across Australia, will take on the grazing and farming rights of the two stations and has bought their herd of about 50,000 cattle.
In total, the walk-in, walk-out deal is understood to be worth between $150 and $175 million.
At 140,000ha, Maryfield — 530 kilometres south-east of Darwin — is not a huge property by NT standards, but boasts one of the largest and newest feedlots in the Top End.
The previous owner, North Star Pastoral, spent millions of dollars building the 10,000-head feedlot. It is used to access both live-export and domestic cattle markets.
Limbunya Station is a sprawling 520,000ha breeding property in the Victoria River District.
AAM managing director and chief executive Garry Edwards said the deal was only presented to the company in the last three weeks, with the partnership with WealthCheck to extend "well beyond a 10-year lifespan".
"We jumped at it because we think they're tremendous assets with tremendous potential with great in situ cattle herds," he said.
"WealthCheck is a long-term passive investor … they have looked at these assets for what they believe represents their value into the future."
Mr Edwards said AAM was particularly interested in the Maryfield feedlot, which would help the company sell cattle to different markets.
"What the feedlot infrastructure will allow us to do is to target and more accurately deliver livestock in closer weight categories, which we would hope will bring prices towards the top end of the market," he said.
Farming and land clearing
In 2019, a 20,000ha land clearing permit that had been granted to Maryfield Station was overturned in the NT Supreme Court after being challenged by an environmental group.
The property now has a permit to clear about 4,900ha, of which about 1,000ha has been cleared.
"As the [cleared] area increases we will look at cotton production and different cropping enterprises as part of a diverse rotation," Mr Edwards said.
"But I would expect for the next year or two at least it will be primarily focused on fodder production [for the feedlot]."
With the purchase of the Maryfield and Limbuyna's cattle, AAM's NT herd will increase to nearly 100,000 head.
The company owns Legune Station near the NT/WA border and leases Manbulloo, Scott Creek and Sturt Downs stations near Katherine.
In February, AAM was chosen as the preferred developer of the Keep Plains Agricultural Development, historically known as Ord Stage 3.
