Rural Funds sale/lease deal
Rural Funds Group is selling half stakes in two irrigated Queensland cropping properties to US investment company, the Rohatyn Group, which will lease the remainder of the two holdings.
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The sale deal for the 2490-hectare Mayneland, and the 4130ha-Baamba Plains is worth about $39m, subject to water licence certifications, and should be finalised early next year, pending Foreign Investment Review Board consent.
Its Rural Funds Management division will continue to provide management services to the new owner and lessee.
Rural Funds, which has a property investment portfolio worth about $2 billion spanning cotton and grain, beef cattle, macadamia and almond farming operations, will use the money to reduce the investment group's debt in the current higher interest rate environment.
The farmland management group is also in the throes of selling two Queensland cattle properties, Mutton Hole and Oakland Park as part of its investment turnover and gearing management strategy.
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PNG landslide aid
SunRice Group's Papua New Guinea subsidiary, Trukai Industries, has donated five tonnes of rice to the Enga Natural Disaster Committee following last month's catastrophic Mulitaka district landslide.
With help from the Australian Defence Force, PNG Defence Force and the United Nations, the donated rice will be distributed between two care centres in Mulitaka and Yambali.
"We hope this donation brings some form of relief as people slowly rebuild their lives and come to terms with the loss of families and loved ones," said NSW rice farmer, SunRice director and Trukai Industries chairman, John Bradford.
"Trukai Industries has always been there for its people, especially during times like this where PNG is impacted by natural disasters."
The landslide has affected an estimated 7800 people, leaving many traumatised and in need of assistance.
The Trukai donation is part of SunRice Group's broader commitment to disaster relief, with the TruCare brand having donated 28,460 tonnes of rice to natural disaster responses over the past six years.
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Lewis lifts AACo stake
Bahamas-based billionaire, Joe Lewis' ongoing campaign to accumulate shares in the 200-year-old Australian Agricultural Company has pushed his stake to just over 53 per cent in the past six months.
The Tavistock investment group's AA Trust is now just shy of owning 320 million shares in the big beef breeding and marketing business, up from 52.1pc in September last year.
AA Trust made 62 acquisitions involving parcels of shares worth between $1.26 and $1.52 each between September 8 and the end of May, with the biggest block involving 3.05m shares bought for $1.35 each.
AACo holds its annual general meeting on July 25 in Brisbane.
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New Namoi player
While Namoi Cotton takeover suitors, Louis Dreyfus Company and Olam Agri Holdings, manoeuvre to get the upper hand in the battle for Australia's biggest ginning business, Sydney-based investor, Harvest Lane Asset Management, has emerged as a new significant shareholder.
Between late February and June 20, Harvest Lane paid between 48 cents a share and 76c for multiple share parcels, including one of more than 7 million, to now hold 5.35 per cent of Namoi stock, or almost 11m shares in total.
Meanwhile, Louis Dreyfus has again extended the deadline for its 67c share offer, now closing on July 19, while Olam, which has bid 70c, currently plans to close its offer on July 16.
Namoi, which recommended shareholders take the Olam offer unless a higher bid emerges, has just reported first quarter 2024-25 operating costs of $63.7m and customer receipts of $65.4m.
At the end of May the company had ginned 300,000 bales from the recent harvest, compared to 250,000 at the same time last year.
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Digital Agrifood Summit
Early bird tickets to attend this year's two day Digital Agrifood Summit at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, are officially on sale for $299 for primary producers, or $499 for general admission (plus GST), until the end of July.
Sponsored by the Food Agility Co-operative Research Centre and to be held on October 29 and 30, the event will look at the farm of the future and find out about the technology that promises to solve agrifood's big challenges.
The two-day program promises to be rich with agtech demonstrations, engaging presentations, and networking opportunities.
The summit includes an expo day on CSUs fully automated and commercial 2000 hectare Global Digital Farm and the Gulbali gala dinner featuring a keynote address, an award ceremony and live entertainment.
- To register, or for information contact das@foodagility.com
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QantasLink is making a gradual aircraft upgrade to its Q400 regional fleet with an extra 14 DeHavilland Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft set to replace smaller and older Q200 and Q300 turboprops by next year.
The Q400 is more than 30 per cent faster than the Q200 and Q300 aircraft, which Qantas says will save travellers time on regional routes and improve service reliability.
QantasLink turboprops carry more than 3.5 million passengers to more than 50 destinations around regional Australia every year,
The faster Q400 planes have been brought into service after being retired by other DeHavilland customer airlines.
Meanwhile, the national carrier is about to take delivery of a third Airbus A220 as part of a long term order for 29 jets to replace Boeing 717s on inter-city routes such as Melbourne to Coffs Harbour and Melbourne to Launceston.
While the remaining Airbus orders are being filled Embraer E190 jets are being leased from Alliance Airlines to help service QantasLink routes.
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NFF Leaders' Summit
The National Farmers' Federation Leaders' Summit will be staged in Canberra on August 21 from 10am at the National Library of Australia.
The summit brings together about 200 senior industry leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
The invitation-only event aims to promote ideas that can progress agriculture and regional Australia and to reflect on progress against industry's 2030 Roadmap to grow agricultural output to $100 billion by 2030.
Summit cocktails also give attendees chances to engage with federal policymakers, and will be followed by the Canberra premiere of the film "Just a Farmer", by farmer-turned-filmmaker, Leila McDougall, then a question and answer session focussed on mental wellbeing in agriculture with directors and cast.