Chinese and Indonesians get chance to secure Terra Firma Australia pastoral offering

The London-based private equity investor Terra Firma is considering the partial sale of Australia’s largest privately owned beef producer, Consolidated Pastoral Company.

The decision by Terra Firma to introduce a part-owner for Consolidated Pastoral is thought to signal attempts to increase its capacity for a potential acquisition, possibly Macquarie Pastoral.

It has appointed investment bank Barclays Capital to field recent approaches from Chinese parties, the Australian Financial Review said.

Consolidated Pastoral was bought from the Packer family in 2009 for around $450 million.

It’s believed Terra Firm was considering a partial sale of as much as 40%.

Consolidated Pastoral has a book value of about $700 million.

Owning and operating 19 cattle stations, it has more than 360,000 head of cattle across 5.6 million hectares of land in Australia.

The CPC chief executive Troy Setter said the company had received interest from Indonesia and China.