Gina Rinehart joins China’s Shanghai CRED agree to buy Kidman cattle empire – CNBC

Steve Christo | Corbis | Getty Images

Cattle on a farm in Wagga Wagga, Sydney, Australia.

Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart and Chinese developer Shanghai CRED have agreed on a deal to jointly purchase S. Kidman & Co, the country’s largest private land holding, for A$ 365 million ($ 276.8 million), the companies said on Sunday.

Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting will own 67 percent and Shanghai CRED 33 percent of Australian Outback Beef, a new joint venture created to buy Kidman in a bid to overcome government concerns about foreign interests buying the cattle empire.

In April, the Australian government rejected a A$ 371 million ($ 281.3 million) bid by a consortium headed by Shanghai CRED and Hunan Dakang Pasture Farming, alongside a minority 20 percent Australian interest, the group’s second rejection in six months.

Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison said the sale of Kidman’s vast holdings – about the same size as South Korea – to the Chinese buyers was not in the national interest. Domestic ownership of agriculture is seen as crucial for Australia to cash in on global food demand and to keep tax revenues onshore.

Rinehart, who has close ties with ruling conservative lawmakers, said Kidman “is an important part of Australia’s pioneering and entrepreneurial history”.

Founded more than 100 years ago, Kidman has an average beef herd carrying capacity of 185,000 cattle and pastoral leases covering 101,000 sq km (39,000 sq miles).