Australian-owned Archipelago Beef Trust has bought two cattle stations for more than $60 million from Indonesia's biggest importer of live cattle, Japfa, in a breather from the trend of foreign buyers snapping up Australian rural estates.
The privately owned Archipelago Beef Trust acquired Riveren and Inverway Stations located in the Southern Victoria River District of the Northern Territory, the Australian Financial Review reported.
The properties cover 550,000 hectares and are carrying about 40,000 head of Brahman cross cattle.
"Riveren and Inverway Stations are a key strategic acquisition by Archipelago Beef targeting the continued delivery of healthy Australian bred and produced cattle into the growing Asian live cattle export market," Archipelago director Luke Butler was quoted as telling the AFR.
Butler said he was looking forward to trading with Japfa.
The vendors Japfa Santori Australia Pty Ltd were represented by Rawdon Briggs of Colliers International.
The deal was done off the market and the price wasn't disclosed, though AFR said it was understood to be about $60 million.
Japfa, a listed company on the Singapore Stock Exchange as well Indonesia, focuses on Asia's emerging markets including China, Vietnam, Myanmar and India. It was represented by Bruce Warren.
Japfa originally purchased the properties in 2013 from the Underwood family for about $35 million.
Overseas buying of Australian rural assets has been a topic of much debate lately.
The latest is around the sale of assets by Australia's largest rural landholder, S.Kidman & Co to a Chinese buyer. Shanghai Pengxin and its partner Australian Rural Capital have been assigned preferred bidder status.
The Foreign Investment Review Board has yet to make a decision on their rumoured $350 million bid, and had rejected an initial offer from Shanghai Pengxin last year with its standalone offer after concerns were raised about its proximity to the Woomera weapons testing range in South Australia.