SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has expanded her cattle business, buying two cattle properties with a total of more than a million acres in the country’s north as the billionaire seeks to profit from Asia’s fast-growing food market.
The cattle properties, located southwest of the town of Katherine in the Northern Territory, were bought from one of Indonesia’s largest importers of cattle, Japfa, the Rinehart-controlled Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd. said.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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“I am very excited about the acquisition of these two cattle properties and to be investing in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory,” Rinehart said in a statement issued by Hancock.
“I am passionate about our agricultural industry and developing northern Australia,” she said.
The recent purchase of 1.36 million acres and 40,000 head of cattle marks the latest agricultural acquisition from the mining magnate after Rinehart bought a Western Australia cattle station last year.
Rinehart is one of a handful of mining magnates who have shown an increasing appetite for Australian agriculture assets amid a transition of the country’s economy — what is sometimes called the “mining to dining boom.”
Australia has exported record amounts of beef to China over the last three years, while a deal to sell live cattle to the Asian market signed last year is expected to be lucrative.
The increased Asian demand for Australian agricultural assets is politically sensitive, igniting fears over food security and leading to stronger government restrictions.
A China-led consortium seeking to buy Australia’s largest agricultural land owner, S. Kidman & Co., will hold off on a fresh bid amid concerns it could be derailed by a new, more protectionist government, said two sources with direct knowledge.
