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- PrimeWest Group’s (PWG) agricultural investment subsidiary, PrimeWest Agricultural Trust, has purchased a property in Victoria
- The company bought the Lamattina property on the Mornington Peninsula, a property responsible for 50 per cent of Australia’s celery production
- The firm paid $42 million for the 385-hectare property
- The acquisition follows the company’s recent purchase of The Pinegatta property in New South Wales’ Southern Riverine region
- PrimeWest shares are steady in early trade, priced at $1.07 per share
PrimeWest Group’s (PWG) agricultural investment subsidiary, PrimeWest Agricultural Trust, has purchased a property in Victoria.
The asset, known as Lamattina, is located on Victoria’s Mornington peninsula — it’s responsible for 50 per cent of Australia’s celery production. PWG says Lamattina will add to the recently acquired Pinegatta property, which the trust purchased in New South Wales’ Southern Riverine region.
The agricultural trust paid $42 million for the 385-hectare Lamattina property, one of the largest landholdings on the peninsula and a significant “high-value food” producer.
PrimeWest says it wants to add further high-quality agricultural properties with the ability to produce high food yields as it builds the trust towards a portfolio worth $100 million.
The company’s taken something of a novel approach to agricultural investment, preferring to invest in properties already leased to strong tenants, as opposed to picking up properties coming up on their lease dates.
It did this with Pinegatta, where it paid $4.8 million for a property leased to Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable processor.
The Director of PrimeWest, David Schwartz, said Lamattina was a rare, investment grade, agricultural asset secured on a long term, triple net lease back to one of Australia’s largest celery producers, with ongoing supply agreements to major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths.
“Lamattina is a highly regarded and well-managed operation which controls over 50 per cent of Australia’s celery market and benefits from outstanding water security and blue-chip supply agreements,” David explained.
“It has water licenses covering 1,494 million litres including bore, surface and Class A recycled water with a year-round state of the art irrigation system,” he continued.
“The property also features 120 hectares of land with greenfield development potential,” David commented.
PrimeWest shares are steady in early trade, priced at $1.07 per share at 11:01 am AEST.
