Raleigh Dairies, 25km from Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast of NSW, will be marketed by Colliers International in a fresh sale.
Ray White Rural had the property on the market several months ago before it was withdrawn from sale.
The Raleigh business, controlled by New Zealand directors James Brander, Adrian Bull and Alison McLean, includes 835ha and 2000 cattle across two farms — North Bank Dairy and Yellow Rock Dairy.
The price is not known.
The property is among a number of dairy farms that have been up for sale nationally.
The $4 billion industry is seen as having better prospects in the long term amid the rise in the Asian middle class but in the interim lower growth has forced dairies to consider consolidation and foreign investment.
Negotiations are believed to be under way for Fonterra and the China Investment Corporation to buy Australia’s oldest dairy business, Van Diemen’s Land, which includes 25 farms in northwest Australia and could sell for as much as $200m.
Several dairy farms in the hands of receivers in Victoria are on the market or expected to be offered for sale.
Last year, The Australian said Western Australia’s largest dairy farming operation, Lactanz Dairies, was for sale for $30m.
But the four aggregated dairy farms owned by private New Zealand company Rosmerta have since been placed into the hands of receivers Ferrier Hodgson on behalf of Rabobank.
Colliers International is the selling agent.
The Rosmerta dairy business, in the coastal Scott River region between Margaret River and Pemberton, is operated by four NZ share-farming families on an individual farm basis.
The operation milks more than 4000 cows and last year attracted interest from Chinese as well as eastern states buyers. Last week, sources said local and offshore groups were still circling it.
Large Chinese beverage company Wahaha is keen to buy Australian dairy farms that can supply milk powder to China.
China consumes 50,000 tonnes of milk powder a year, half of which is imported, sources say.
It is understood that Wahaha last year was also investigating part-buying or investing in Van Diemen’s Land along with CIC.
Another of WA’s largest dairy farms, 900ha Ravenhill Dairy, was last year to sell to a Chinese buyer, but the deal to buy the operation, near Albany, collapsed.
Agents are reporting strong interest in the dairy operations for sale from both local and offshore groups.
Dairy prices have improved and exporters are in a stronger position with the lower Australian dollar than they were a year ago, when feed costs were also high.
However, domestic producers, which dominate Queensland and NSW, have suffered from discounting by supermarkets Coles and Woolworths and higher feed costs. Until recently a strong Australian dollar has also hurt.
Source: The Australian
