Rural Funds Management has offered its 1,728-hectare Dyamberin cattle property in New South Wales for sale at a price of over A$20 million (US$13 million or €12 million).
RFM, manager of ASX-listed Rural Funds Group, originally acquired the property in 2018 for A$13.4 million and secured Stone Axe Pastoral Company – a portfolio company of Roc Partners – as a tenant on a 10-year lease.
Stone Axe, a Wagyu producer also backed by investors including Aware Super and the GO NSW Equity Fund, has brought Wagyu cattle to Dyamberin for the first time.
The lease provided for a rent review after five years, which allowed for rent adjustment based on productivity improvements.
George Barton, LAWD’s sales director, confirmed that Stone Axe will vacate the property when the new owners take over, and that the lease will end early after the original 10-year agreement has expired.
Dyamberin has a pasture farm with a capacity of up to 25,420 sheep, which currently houses around 800 breeding cattle.
The property also includes a water mains system fed by approximately 50 dams and streams and a recently renovated three-bedroom country house.
Barton expects Dyamberin to attract interest from institutional and private buyers looking to capitalize on the company’s production capacity.
“Dyamberin is one of those cleverly placed assets for the buyer because it is small enough for a family farm looking to expand its portfolio into high rainfall grazing land and be able to add a property to its portfolio. But it is also large enough for an institutional buyer to buy it and operate it themselves or buy it and (do) like the current owners and lease it out.”
He said Stone Axe has made improvements to the property, including improved fencing, pasture improvements, and fertilization and weed control.
In 2018, RFM acquired Woodburn, a 1,062ha property in NSW, for A$7.5 million.
In 2019, it acquired the 6,486ha Cobungra property – its first cattle property in Victoria – for A$35 million.
In February 2020, RFM purchased three properties in Western Australia – Petro, High Hill and Willara – totaling 6,196 hectares for A$22.6 million.
According to RFM’s website, the company continues to lease all of these properties to Stone Axe.
RFM’s current cattle portfolio comprises 23 properties in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, totalling 717,434 hectares of breeding and backland.
RFM’s total portfolio comprises 67 properties as of December 31, 2023.
The expression of interest for Dyamberin closes on August 29.