Victoria's biggest tomato farm and 37 other farms have been sold to investment company GoFarm for an estimated $30 million.
Superannuation fund Aware Super has offloaded its 38 farms across 9004 hectares (22,249 acres) between Kerang and Swan Hill.
The fund has managed to hang onto its 20 gigalitres of irrigation water valued at about $100 million.
The Lake Boga Aggregation has been on the market for almost a year.
GoFarm is closely linked to Australia's largest horticultural company Costa Group.
Robert Costa is the chair of GoFarm, which is jointly owner by its managing director Liam Lenaghan and the Costa family's private investment arm Costa Asset Management.
Aware Super sold its 8167 megalitres of low-reliability water entitlements as part of the deal.
Aware Super was formed by the merger of VicSuper and First State Super in 2020.
VicSuper had accumulated the land under the management of Kilter Rural which grow tomatoes, plums and cereals as well as running sheep.
Much of the aggregation's saline land has been revegetated to generate carbon and biodiversity offsets and also to become more productive.
The properties have become one of Australia's largest suppliers of field tomatoes, producing around 80,000 tonnes a year.
"We're really proud of what we accomplished with this investment over the 16 years it was owned by VicSuper and then Aware Super, after the funds merged in 2020," Aware Super's senior portfolio manager (infrastructure) Mark Hector said.
"It was always our intention to divest the farmland after a period of transformation and growth, and to redeploy the capital into exciting new investment opportunities that will keep delivering the strong, long term returns our members expect.
"We know the asset is in good hands with the new owner, who will continue to invest in the business and ensure it has a prosperous future."
Aware Super says it has no plans to diminish its water and agriculture assets, which is valued at about $1.5 billion.
Much of those water assets are leased to big almond producers like Olam and Select Harvest.
"We'll continue to invest in strong, sustainable agricultural assets that support regional Australia and deliver strong, long-term returns for our members," Mr Hector said.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
