THE foreign investment company that has plunged millions into acquiring a blue ribbon Northern Territory cattle holding has broken its silence for the first time on its reasons for making the purchase.
Insight Investment has announced that Thames Pastoral Co, the Australian subsidiary company of Insight Global Farmland Fund Ltd, has purchased Tanumbirini Station, a 5001 square kilometre property, 420km south-west of Katherine.
The acquisition of the perpetual pastoral lease includes about 28,000-head of mixed cattle.
"The Northern Territory has a comparative advantage for beef production due to its geographical proximity to export markets, the low intensity pasture-based production system and the economies of scale," according to Reza Vishkai, head of Global Farmland at Insight Investment, advisor to Insight Global Farmland Fund Ltd.
"Tanumbirini presents a unique opportunity for Insight Global Farmland Fund Ltd.
"It is Thames Pastoral's intention to leverage the experience of local management, including the general manager of Thames Pastoral, David Connolly (formerly chief operating officer of the Australian Agricultural Company), to make investments in infrastructure, water and fencing to further develop a property which already has many excellent attributes."
While the statement from Insight Investment did not disclose the purchase price, the transaction is believed to be worth close to $33 million.
This comes as a welcome boost in confidence in the Top End's fragile live cattle export business and the NT's tough property market.
Little is still known about the London-based buyer, which is entering the Australian cattle market for the first time.
Speculation is rife that the investment company is now looking at additional properties in Australia and New Zealand to grow its Australasian portfolio.
Formerly owned by cattle baron Sterling Buntine's Baldy Bay Pty Ltd, Tanumbirini Station was originally passed in at auction in May last year on a vendor bid of $30m - well short of initial expectations of up to $38m.
Mr Buntine, whose wealth is estimated by BRW Rich List at $285m, has performed a miraculous escape from a depressed rural property market, selling off at least $80m in property in the past two years.
He amassed more than 2.8m hectares across the Kimberley, NT and Queensland, including one of the largest single aggregations in the country, the Bedford Downs and Lansdowne properties in Western Australia.
Mr Buntine purchased Alroy Downs in NT for $70m in one of the biggest single cattle station deals in Australia's history.
He is, ironically, affiliated with the two key companies that played an integral part in the boom-time value rises for cattle stations - Stanbroke and the failed managed investment scheme Great Southern.
However, in 2009, when Great Southern collapsed, Mr Buntine started selling several of his stations.
One of the first to go was Inverness Station at Blackall, Queensland, for about $14m.
Last year he sold off Amburla Station just outside Alice Springs for $6m and went on to sell his far western Queensland stations Springvale, Malvern Hills and Maree Downs for $28.5m.
