- Land, Agribusiness, Water and Development (LAWD) is managing an expression of interest campaign
- The three portfolios include property from Queensland, NSW and Tasmania
- The assets have undergone significant improvements through investment from Proterra
The agricultural market has been flooded with an abundance of asset opportunities as Proterra Investment Partners bring to the market over $400 million worth of property.
The assets for sale span across three portfolios, Vaucluse (4,448ha), One Tree (23,594ha) and Racecourse (14,425ha), with expressions of interest being accepted through rural property and advisory firm Land, Agribusiness, Water and Development (LAWD).
The properties are located across Tasmania, NSW and Queensland and over with a variety of produce areas with grain, sugarcane, horticulture and livestock production.
LAWD Senior Director, Danny Thomas, expects the diversity of the three offerings to be a drawcard for both local and international interest.
“Proterra has done an outstanding job to strategically aggregate land and water assets and to transition these into highly productive aggregations, now representing more than $400 million in value, across wide-ranging geographical areas and commodities,” Mr Thomas said.
“Given these factors, we expect the different portfolios to appeal to diverse categories of investors,” he said.
“[We] are foreseeing a very high level of enquiry given the global demand for assets of this quality in this class.”
Danny Thomas, LAWD Senior Director
Proterra is a private equity firm focused on natural resource investing, with Managing Director, Becs Willson at the helm.
Ms Wilson belives it is a great time for the company to capitalise on the existing strong market.
Vaucluse – Tasmania
The Tasmainan portfolio – Vaucluse – is the the outcome of the amalgamation of two neighbouring properties.
The asset has seen extensive investment transforming the site to feature extensively developed irrigation land, including centre pivot and linear irrigation (2,151ha) and hard hose traveller irrigators (447ha).
The farmland includes dryland cropping and grazing land.
“By investing heavily in water infrastructure and agronomics, we have significantly improved yields.”
Becs Willson, Proterra Managing Director
“The construction of a 5,424t grain storage facility has further allowed us to extract a premium price by holding grain on behalf of customers and delivering throughout the year to guarantee a consistent high-quality product.”
Other rotation crops for the land include potatoes, poppies, carrots, and hemp.
“While these are only auxiliary to the cereal operations, the diversification means in any given season there will be at least one commodity in exceptionally high demand, making the asset an excellent hedge,” Ms Willson said.
Expression of interests close 4pm (AEST), 28 April 2022.
One Tree – NSW and Queensland
The One Tree portfolio comprises of 21 individual holdings across the Southern Queensland areas of Goondiwindi and Jandowae as well as the Northern NSW region of North Star.
The portfolio offers an accumulated 23,594ha of cropping asset.
The One Tree group of properties produces wheat, barley, chickpeas, fava beans, cotton and sorghum.
Ms Willson highlighted that future owners would reap the benefits of Proterra’s investment into maximising arable land.
“We have invested in extensive development to transition land from grazing to prime broadacre cropping, and combined properties to grow efficiencies for corporate agriculture,” she said.
An additional 48,000t of combined grain storage has been added across the portfolio, with all properties positioned in close proximity to commodity processing facilities.
Expression of interests close 4pm (AEST), 5 May 2022.
Racecourse – Queensland
Three holdings across the Clairview and Mackay regions of Queensland together make up the Racecourse portfolio, totalling 14,425ha.
The portfolio includes the Mackay region’s largest continuous use sugarcane farm which was purchased by Proterra in 2013. The additional two properties were acquired as cattle properties but then converted back to sugar cane production.
Ms Willson said she is proud of what Proterra has achieved with Racecourse.
“We have employed sophisticated agronomic methods and best industry practice across the portfolio to become one of the largest private producers of sugarcane in Australia,” she said.
“Additionally, the portfolio was one of the first in Australia to achieve a globally distinguished Bonsucro accreditation, which recognises enterprises operating to stringent sustainable sugarcane production practices.”
Expression of interests for Racecourse close 4pm (AEST), 5 May 2022.
These three portfolios are the final agricultural assets under Proterra’s ownership. However, the private equity firm has highlighted that it will seek out new opportunities in the agricultural sector in the future.
