Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd has acquired the 3433 hectare Northern Territory cattle station Phoenix Park for an undisclosed sum.
The large property includes open land for grazing, capacity for over 30,000 head of cattle as well as silos, feed stores, a cattle depot, 40ha of irrigated land to grow fodder plus a factory with cool rooms and staff accommodation.
The property’s proximity to Katherine is part of its appeal as it means it can keep operating during the wet season, unlike other cattle stations which are often cut off by the water, which ensures a stable supply year-round. The large station has long been associated with various agriculture businesses.
In the 1990s the site was a large dairy farm and silo towers were erected on site and prior to that it had been a commercial stud farm and piggery. Currently the agriculture businesses on the site are leased out.
The pre-feeding depot has been owned by Steve and Cyndi Bakalian since 2007 and is the second cattle purchase by Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd in less than a month.
Bakalian says he is glad the property has been acquired by an Australian.
“Cyndi and I are glad the property is going to an Australian Company who wants to invest in and build up the Northern Cattle Industry,” he says.
The mining magnate has also recently purchased the Inverway and Riveren Stations in the Victoria River district which combined cover 550,000 hectares and hold 40,000 head of cattle.
Rinehart says buying Phoenix Park was a strategic move for her company. It is thought the demand for Australian beef in Asia will increase substantially in the next few years.
“This is a strategic acquisition for HPPL and will give HPPL the ability to supply cattle throughout the year including during the wet season, so we hope to be reliable suppliers to our markets,” Rinheart says.
“We will also be contributing to local employment and the business community in Katherine and the Northern Territory, something that is important to me. As I have said previously, having grown up in the north, I would like to make a contribution to the development of Northern Australia.”
The purchase will allow the company to “value to our existing operations”, says Hancock Prospecting CEO Garry Korte.
“The purchase of Phoenix Park is an integral part of being able to maximise our on station breeder carrying capacity and enables us to maximise sale weights via the supplementary feeding of locally grown fodder,” he says.
The property very nearly went to auction on June 22, but the vendors received an offer the night before “that was substantial enough” to avoid that process, says Elders Real Estate Katherine Principal Alison Ross.
Settlement on the sale is expected next week.
