By Jonathan Barrett
SYDNEY, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart and a Chinese partner raised their offer to buy the country’s largest private land holding on Thursday, with Rinehart pledging to buy it outright if the joint bid was rejected on national interest grounds.
The fate of S. Kidman & Co, which runs cattle and pastoral activities on tracts of land the size of South Korea, has been a lightning rod for concerns about the sale of Australian agriculture and other key assets to foreign investors.
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The latest A$386.5 million (US$295 million) bid by Rinehart and Chinese developer Shanghai CRED, up from A$365 million, just tops a rival A$386 million bid by four of Australia’s wealthiest outback cattle families, triggering an intriguing battle between outback dynasties.
Unlike the rival, all-Australian bid, the Rinehart-led bid requires regulatory approval. The Australian government has twice rejected foreign offers for Kidman.
Rinehart, however, said should regulatory approval not be obtained, she will buy S. Kidman solely – removing any need for regulatory approval.
“I hope this provides shareholders with significant comfort and that when they consider the offer they can do so in the knowledge that there is no [Australian Foreign Investment Review Board] or [People’s Republic of China] execution risk, and further that we have the money to invest to properly maintain the stations and their hard-working staff,” she said.
Rinehart is Australia’s richest woman with a net worth of $11.7 billion, according to Forbes, based on an iron ore empire in Australia’s mineral-rich Pilbara, where she grew up.
The ultimate sale decision will be made by the 53 Kidman shareholders, a spokesperson for Kidman said, operating on a Dec. 9 bid deadline.
A spokesperson for the so-called BBHO consortium – referring to cattlemen Tom Brinkworth, Sterling Buntine, Malcolm Harris and Viv Oldfield – said the sale process was still live.
“The BBHO consortium remains strongly committed to our bid,” the spokesperson said.
“BBHO is considering upping its offer.”
A successful bid by BBHO for the country’s largest private landholding would create one of the world’s biggest cattle businesses with more than 500,000 head of cattle.
