R.M.
R.M. Williams Agricultural Holdings, the recently formed Australian agricultural business in which Origo Sino-India and Origo Resource Partners own a combined 39 per cent shareholding, is to acquire two agricultural properties in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The company’s strategy is to build a vertically integrated agricultural company focused on operating prime farmland and, through strategic partnerships, to develop a diversified portfolio of businesses supplying a range of premium branded organic meat and grain products to both local and international markets.
Welltree is a 39,100 hectare property and cattle-station operation situated on natural flood plains close to the major export port of Darwin in Northern Territory Australia.
R.M. Williams Agricultural plans to develop Welltree into a year-round finishing depot for cattle awaiting export to Asia, thereby forming a platform for consolidating high-quality, under developed pastoral properties in the Northern Territory.
Welltree is expected to generate additional income streams through complementary activities such as aquaculture and environmental securitisation.
Inglewood Farms is Australia’s leading producer of organic, free-range chicken. It will supplement R.M. Williams Agricultural’s existing aggregation of organic feed producing properties on the Warrego river system.
Both transactions are subject to customary closing conditions. The total value of the transactions has not been publicly disclosed.
Chris Rynning, chief executive of Origo-Sino India and executive director of Origo Resource Partners, says: "These two transactions illustrate RMWAH’s ability to rapidly build an integrated agricultural company, positioned to serve both domestic and international export markets.
"The acquisitions will expand RMWAH’s asset base and business scope, and provide an attractive potential mix of long-term capital appreciation and nearer term cash-flow generation."
