Iain Gray sells New England property, Achill West
The fund manager Iain Gray has sold the Achill West grazing property near Armidale to local beef producers, Marengo Pastoral Company.
The New England Property has been sold on a “walk in, walk out” basis for an undisclosed price. It was put up for sale in October last year with expectations of between $8 million and $8.5 million.
Originally part of the well known New England’s Coventry families fine wool empire, Achill West comprises 2,216.06 hectares (5,473.67 acres) of predominantly open undulating but well sheltered grazing country.
The buyers, Marengo Pastoral Company already have a large beef cattle operation to the east of Ebor, near Hernani.
They currently run approximately 800 breeding cows and turning off up to 3,000 cattle per annum.
The purchase of Achill West will allow them to further develop their beef cattle operation by utilizing Achill West as their main breeding holding, running 1,000 breeding cows plus followers, including the Achill West Angus herd together with some of their own cows. One of the features of Achill West is its proximity to markets – 3 abattoirs within 165km radius and 3 major feedlots within 220km radius.
Enabling them to maximize their beef cattle returns, the previous owners have been producing a percentage of Wagyu cross calves in recent years from their (up to) 800 quality Angus breeding cows for the lucrative Japanese market, Chris Meares at Meares & Associates said.
“The purchase of the well managed and developed Achill West by the Marengo Pastoral Company is a further example of vertical integration of breeding and fattening enterprises in the cattle industry. The concept behind the purchase is that Achill West will become the “breeding factory” for the owners, with Marengo to the East, with its higher rainfall, heavy basalt soils and maritime climate becoming the “fattening factory” for the operation.”
Ownership of Marengo Pastoral is shared between David Cobcroft, managing director at Sydney-based Alukea Commodities, Warwick Negus, a director at ASX-listed investment firm Washington H. Soul Pattinson and his wife Louise, and the superannuation fund of Robert and Samuel Mayer, who run F. Mayer Imports, a major food supplier.