Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Rural / Beef Cattle / Livestock / Business, Economics and Finance / Company News

Hancock group says Kidman bid will secure "legacy" of cattle empire

Tuesday, 25 Oct 2016 12:35:06 | Dominique Schwartz

S Kidman and Co has pastoral leases covering 101,000 square kilometres in three states and the NT. (ABC News: Kerry Straight)

The Hancock Group has come out in defence of its joint Australian-Chinese bid for the Kidman cattle empire, denying an all-Australian offer is superior.

Key points:

  • Hancock says they won't close down or "radically change" Kidman's Adelaide head office
  • The Australian syndicate's plan is to add Kidman properties to individual family businesses, then market combined herd under Kidman brand
  • "You don't get much more Australian than … Gina Rinehart": Hancock defending Australian-Chinese bid

A syndicate of four grazier families called BBHO is making a $386 million bid for S Kidman and Co — effectively a couple of million dollars more than the preferred offer by Hancock Prospecting and its minority joint venture partner Shanghai CRED.

"The Hancock JV bid is an Australian bid — you don't get much more Australian than fourth generation Australian Gina Rinehart," Hancock Group chief executive Garry Korte said.

"So let's not start to pretend otherwise.

"Mrs Rinehart is from a long line of great Australian pastoralists, from her great grandfather down to herself.

"The real difference between the bids is that we will maintain and secure the future of the Kidman legacy, invest in the stations and avoid seeing it split up and destroyed.

"We will not close down or radically change the Adelaide head office or make the hard working experienced Kidman staff, who in many cases have been with Kidman for decades, redundant.

"We will observe high standards of pastoral care in line with Kidman's existing standards and will not tolerate animal cruelty or illegal land clearing," he said in an apparent reference to South Australian grazier Tom Brinkworth, a member of the rival bidding syndicate.

Mr Brinkworth was charged with animal cruelty for allegedly allowing hundreds of cattle to starve during the drought in 2007 but the case against him fell over due to misconduct by an RSPCA employee.

Several years earlier Mr Brinkworth was fined $273,000 for illegal land-clearing.

"There is a very real benefit with the Hancock structure in that it provides a concrete way to ensure that the Kidman business can continue to grow and develop, creating jobs in our rural communities," Mr Korte said.

"Hancock has the capital and the stated intention to grow the Kidman business, and we have a minority partner that will secure a growing additional market that will assist this."

Infographic: S Kidman and Co's cattle stations are spread out over 101,000 square kilometres of central Australia. (Supplied)

Syndicate bid would 'treble the Kidman herd'

The Australian syndicate comprising the Buntine, Brinkworth, Harris and Oldfield families has extensive land and stock holdings across five states.

The tycoons hoping to outbid Rinehart


There are now five Australian outback dynasties vying for the sprawling S Kidman and Co properties, and a conclusion to the highly political 18-month saga could be just months away.

Its plan is to add the Kidman properties to the individual family businesses, but then market the syndicate's combined herd under the Kidman brand.

NT pastoralist and syndicate member Sterling Buntine has said his group's bid is superior because it is offering more money, would treble the Kidman herd overnight and grow the Kidman brand globally.

He said it also ensures Australia's largest private landholding will stay in Australian hands.

S Kidman and Co has entered into a preferred bid agreement with the Hancock-Shanghai joint venture company Australian Outback Beef (AOB).

The bid is yet to receive approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

S Kidman and Co has pastoral leases covering 101,000 square kilometres in three states and the Northern Territory, representing 2.6 per cent of Australia's agricultural land.

It runs up to 185,000 cattle and produces grass-fed beef for export to Japan, the USA and South East Asia.

External Link: BBHO offer for S Kidman and Co

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend