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- Chinese coal giant Shenhua is selling its Liverpool Plains rural landholdings in northwest NSW
- The sale comes after being paid $100 million from the NSW Government to cancel the coal mining project
- Shenhua is expected to get around $120 million for the 16,570ha holdings spread across three aggregations
- CBRE’s Agribusiness team has been appointed to steer the sale, with interest to come from local farmers, institutional investors, and corporate organisations
After being paid $100 million from the NSW Government to cancel the coal mine project on the Liverpool Plains, coal giant Shenhua is putting the rural landholding out to pasture.
The Chinese-owned mining company reached the agreement to withdraw its mining lease application on the site in April after a 13-year battle with farmers of the region.
Shenhua was planning for an open-cut coal mine but has now put the sought-after landholding on the market in a deal expected to fetch around $120 million.
CBRE’s Agribusiness team has been appointed to steer the sale, with a pre-campaign launch event in Gunnedah to be staged ahead of the formal expressions of interest campaign commencing later this month.
Given the size and location of the landholdings, which total roughly 16,570ha, local farmers, institutional investors, and corporate agricultural organisations are expected to show strong interest.
Shenhua representative Chris Walker said the company has formed good relationships with farmers in the area during their period of ownership.
“With CBRE’s help we look forward to moving the properties over to the farming community and returning the land to agricultural pursuits,” he said.
Breeza, Tambar Springs, and Barraba are three aggregations in and around the Gunnedah area that make up the Shenhua landholdings. Currently, the holdings are leased to seven tenants, each of whom occupy and manages a different title under separate lease agreements.
CBRE Agribusiness Managing Director David Goodfellow said the sales process would provide local farmers with equal opportunities to compete against larger corporate agribusiness investors.
“A landholding of this size and annual productivity is very suitable for a combination of local farming businesses to acquire individual sites to add onto their existing operations,” he said.
“It will also be appealing to the corporate agribusiness sector who can see the huge economic benefits of properties with very large scale. In addition, the site offers potential benefits from the creation of carbon credits, which adds to the overall financial returns.”
Breeza is the largest of the three aggregations, with a total area of 14,246ha. It consists of 14 estates bought by Shenhua between 2009 and 2010, as well as three homes and an office in the Gunnedah municipality.
CBRE Agribusiness Manager James Auty noted that the Gunnedah region was well-known for its highly productive soils, its wide range of well-proven agricultural systems and its typically even distribution of rainfall throughout the year.
“This means the region can grow pastures for breeding and fattening livestock right through the year as well as growing both summer crops and winter crops for grain and/or fodder – lending these landholdings to an incredibly wide range of purposes,” he said.
“In addition, some of the land is also highly suited to native forest regeneration for the production of carbon credits, which are quickly becoming very valuable given the current corporate demand to achieve zero net emissions targets.”
Expressions of interest in the Shenhua landholdings will close on August 26, 2021
