WELL known agribusinessman John Nicoletti has been an active buyer in the Western Australian rural real estate sector, having purchased three properties in recent months.
These three recent purchases total about 18,000 hectares of WA farmland.
Farm Weekly understands that Mr Nicoletti paid about $8 million for Te Rawhiti, Borden.
A source said the property has now been leased to the Letter brothers/family.
Te Rawhiti measures 2677ha and was marketed as a quality turn-key farming enterprise for cropping and sheep.
Mr Nicoletti added the property Kings Rocks, Hyden, to his asset portfolio, paying $8.3m to vendors Rolf and Sue Meeking (traded as the Meeking Brothers).
He also purchased Bernadi Farms, at Mt Walker, from Vince Federici for an undisclosed price.
The 7446ha farm has been operated as 100 per cent cropping since 2012 but has adequate sheep infrastructure.
Prior to 2012, peak sheep numbers run on the property were 6000 head.
It's not known whether Mr Nicoletti plans to lease out the other properties, Kings Rocks and Bernadi Farms, or farm some as well.
It's also understood he has offer/s on farmland in the Newdegate region and has been enquiring about additional properties in the Great Southern.
There is also speculation he has been looking at farmland in the Eastern States.
These purchases come after Mr Nicoletti announced he was offering his six John Deere dealerships, Ag Implements, for sale in October last year.
There is speculation as to whether a deal is imminent, but has not been confirmed as yet.
Also last year, Mr Nicoletti made headlines when he sold his Baladjie aggregation, spanning 203,000ha across the Eastern Wheatbelt (76,000ha freehold and 134,000ha leasehold) for more than $60m.
The cropping portfolio was purchased by the Saudi Arabian investment firm Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, which included a Merino flock of about 40,000 head and a comprehensive list of machinery.
Mr Nicoletti was reached but declined to comment.