Article by Chris Herde courtesy of The Australian.
The final station that was part of the late Tom Strachan’s Packhorse Pastoral Company’s “cattle and carbon” investment portfolio has been sold.
Queensland Investment Corporation is believed to have paid between $30m and $40m for Stuart’s Creek – and 8300ha pastoral property northwest of Roma that will be put in its Natural Capital platform.
Mr Strachan, his son Noah and senior pilot Gary Liehm died in a light plane crash west of Brisbane in August last year.
Tom Murphy, QIC head of Natural Capital, said the acquisition allows QIC to build on its existing agricultural and natural capital investments and expertise.
“Packhorse is a recognised leader in carbon farming and that legacy is not lost on any of us,” he said. “In Stuart’s Creek, we acquire a solid foundation to explore environmental market opportunities that are complementary to the existing traditional cattle grazing operations.
“This is prime agricultural land that also has significant areas registered for sequestration, offering the best of both worlds in cattle and carbon.” The Stuart’s Creek cattle station was Packhorse Pastoral’s seed asset for its plans to create a $1bn cattle and carbon fund.
It was acquired for $30m from a local family in mid-2021.
Packhorse put its $120m threestation portfolio on the market a year ago through CBRE.
Earlier this year, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agricultural, bought Packhorse’s 8731ha Ottley Station west of Inverell in northern NSW and the 10,029ha Moolan Downs Aggregation in Queensland for about $80m.
Packhorse Pastoral managing director Geoff Murrell said the sale of Stuart’s Creek “has delivered strong shareholder returns and the compatibility of a new land steward to continue building on the solid regenerative agricultural practices Packhorse had underway”.
