Hong Kong’s richest person banks $33m from Victorian farms
Hong Kong’s richest person, Li Ka-shing, is banking just over $33 million from a major Goulburn Valley aggregation growing, amongst other things, kiwi fruit.
Austral Orchard, Hayward Orchard and Lakes Orchard, across 200 hectares at Bunbartha and Mundoona, are trading to Melbourne based Warakirri Asset Management for the Warakirri Farmland Fund.
The asset is leased until June, 2031, to ASX-listed Seeka Limited, which entered the Australian sector a decade ago.
From these farms, it outputs jujubes, Corella pears and has become the country’s largest grower, packer and marketer of Nashi pears.
It also produces 70 per cent of Australia’s kiwi fruit.
Established in 1993, Warakirri now controls assets worth c$3.8 billion including 11 aggregations in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia – all up, c155,000ha.
Another trust it controls, the Warakirri Diversified Agriculture Fund, recently outlaid $15m for a 160ha NSW Riverina orchard.
WFF was seeded three years ago with two vineyards – in New South Wales and South Australia.
In the black following leaseback deal
Mr Li’s CK Group – via Cayman Islands registered CK Asset Holdings Limited – acquired the portfolio for $26.5m in December, 2020; it was a leaseback deal.
Within five kilometres of each other, Austral Orchard is the biggest, spreading 89ha, followed by Hayward (70ha) and Lakes Orchard (40ha).
The Hayward property also fronts the No 12 Main Channel and has access to GMW supply points, allowing direct delivery to orchards via automated sprinklers.
The offering also includes 1000ML of Goulburn-Murray Zone 1A water entitlements.
Following the sale, CKAHL still controls some $1.8 billion of Australian agricultural assets including 11 vineyards and 88,000ha of cropping farms.
The disposal comes 14 months since the world’s then-world’s richest person, Bernard Arnault, via Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, sold a Margaret River winery to Endeavour Group.
Coincidentally, Warakirri bought the business and real estate of Tasmania’s Josef Chromy Wines, three years ago after striking a deal with Endeavour to occupy it.
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