Critics still lining up to stall Rinehart’s `superior’ Kidman bid

The federal government is now being urged to block Gina Rinehart’s final run to take control of the Kidman estate unless the mining magnate assures regulators she will not sell down her majority stake to Chinese partner, Shanghai CRED.

Vocal opponent of foreign ownership of Australian farmland and North Queensland MP, Bob Katter, wants “unequivocal assurances” Shanghai CRED’s involvement in the Kidman bid will remain as a 33 per cent stakeholder, or less.

He also wants One Nation’s Senator Pauline Hanson to re-think her support for Mrs Rinehart’s beef partnership with the Chinese – support not shared by fellow One Nation Senator, Rod Cullerton.

Senator Cullerton, from Western Australia, has described the sale to Mrs Rinehart’s partnership as representing a clear example of how farmland is being sold off to foreign investors.

He believed the deal would effectively "gift the land" to China.

Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and Gui Guojie's Shanghai CRED rural property and real estate business jointly own Australian Outback Beef (AOB) which last week delivered a knockout punch to its bidding rivals in the latest round of the 18-month Kidman company sale saga.

Just over a week ago an all-Australian farming family syndicate launched a $386 million counter bid to AOB’s original offer for the 10.1m hectare Kidman beef estate,

But it had pulled out of the race by last Friday.

The Buntine, Brinkworth, Harris and Oldfield (BBHO) family group withdrew after learning S. Kidman and Co directors unanimously recommended their shareholders accept a new, “superior offer” from Mrs Rinehart’s partnership.

AOB had lifted its own bid to exceed the BBHO offer by $500,000.

The mining billionaire seems set to seal regulatory approval in Canberra by promising to buy the whole Kidman pastoral operation herself if the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) is still be uneasy about Shanghai CRED’s involvement.

But Mr Katter is not convinced AOB’s minority Chinese investors will remain low-key partners.

“There should not be any FIRB or government approval for the sale until, there is a guarantee provided by the government that there will be no movement of a majority shareholding in this bid across to Shanghai CRED,” he said.

“Unless that assurance is given Australians will quite rightly assume they were deceived by the government before the federal election.”

Shanghai CRED’s previous Chinese-majority partnership was stopped from buying Kidman and Co in April when Treasurer Scott Morrison expressed unease Australian investors had not had enough chance to be prominent in the bidding process.

Mr Katter, who already wants foreign takeover laws changed to give priority to “commercially equivalent Australian bidders” competing with overseas investors for rural land or agribusinesses, was a strong supporter of the all-Australian BBHO team.

South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon also supported BBHO’s Kidman campaign.

However, Mr Katter and Senator Xenophon were surprised to find One Nation’s Senator Hanson backing Mrs Rinehart’s partnership with Shanghai CRED.

Mr Katter said given Senator Hanson told last week’s National Farmers Federation Congress she did not want foreign ownership of agricultural land, they were “very surprised and disappointed” she was not aligning her views with theirs.

Senator Hanson said she had spoken with one of Mrs Rinehart's associates who had assured her Mr Gui was not "communist China" and that AOB would employ Australian workers.

"I asked them, is it going to be communist China? She said no, it has nothing to do with Communist China or the government,” Senator Hanson said.

"I have a lot of respect for Gina and I think she will do wonders. I trust the information I have received.”

Despite her support for Mrs Rinehart, Mr Katter still believed Senator Hanson would eventually join the Xenophon and Katter parties in taking a “very strong stance in backing an all-Australian Kidman and Co”.

However, while acknowledging a “strong groundswell” of public support for the all-Australian farming family bid, the BBHO syndicate has already made clear it has no more money to throw into the Kidman camp.

Its members are also already welcoming AOB as a potential new neighbour, given many of Kidman’s 17 stations in Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland are near to BBHO family holdings.

“Each of the BBHO partners wishes AOB well.”

Meanwhile, ownership of the 7m hectare Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) business has been confirmed as becoming even more foreign-owned with UK born billionaire, Joe Lewis, now understood to have lifted his dominant stake in the 192-year-old company to 38pc.

Mr Lewis, whose other interests include London football team Tottenham Hotspur, is the ultimate owner of the AA Trust, which has just converted 59 of 160 Convertible Notes into fully paid ordinary shares in AACo.

AACo owns land in Queensland and the Northern Territory and the new Darwin abattoir.

It has had a long history of overseas shareholders including key investors from Malaysia and the Middle East in its recent history.