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Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and her Chinese co-investor are selling a vast cattle station in Queensland from the S. Kidman & Co. portfolio, with the property expected to fetch A$50 million ($34.5 million) to A$55 million ($37.9 million).
The station is Morney Plains, in the Channel Country of southwestern Queensland, a region of braided rivers and floodplains known for fattening cattle after seasonal floods. Its sale fits a plan to focus the beef business on Wagyu, the high-marbled breed that sells at a premium in Asian and domestic markets.
A storied cattle empire
S. Kidman & Co. is one of Australia's oldest and largest pastoral companies. It was founded by Sidney Kidman, the so-called Cattle King, whose holdings once covered a significant share of the country's outback.
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting Pty. bought the company in 2016 in partnership with Shanghai CRED Real Estate Stock Co., after the Australian government blocked earlier bids led by Chinese buyers on national interest grounds. Hancock holds the controlling two-thirds stake, and the Chinese group holds the rest.
Since the purchase, Rinehart has trimmed and reshaped the portfolio, selling several large stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory while buying farms elsewhere to build her Wagyu operations. The Morney Plains listing continues that process.
Iron ore money behind the herd
Rinehart, 72, built her fortune on iron ore. She took over Hancock Prospecting after the death of her father, Lang Hancock, in 1992, when the company was weighed down by debt, and turned it into one of Australia's most profitable private businesses through the Roy Hill mine in the Pilbara and the Hope Downs joint venture with Rio Tinto.
Agriculture has become a growing part of her empire. Through Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co., she controls millions of hectares of grazing land and one of Australia's largest cattle herds.
Forbes ranks her as Australia's richest person.
Figures were converted at A$1.45 to the dollar.
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