Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), the largest foreign institutional investor in Australian agriculture, has acquired more than 8,000 hectares of farmland in New South Wales from Duxton Farms for A$70m (€42m).
The latest acquisition came less than a month after the Canadian institution bought a majority stake in an egg farming business, Ellerslie Free Range Eggs. The transaction price was not disclosed but is believed to be A$180m.
Duxton, the only publicly listed farming enterprise in Australia that cultivates both crops and livestock, said it had sold its Timbercombe property to Altora Ag, established in 2022 after it folded two businesses into a single platform.
Ed Peter, Duxton Farms chairman said: “Timberscombe has been a significant part of Duxton’s broadacre farming portfolio since 2008, and it has been a fantastic asset for us.
”This sale allows us to redeploy capital into growth and development projects that are better suited to the company’s expanding strategic scope, and to pay a small distribution to investors as a thanks for their support so far.”
He said that the divestment of Timberscombe was intended to rebalance the portfolio and shift the centre of focus from traditional large-scale broadacre cropping in New South Wales to new growth opportunities in Australian agriculture that will require ongoing capital outlay, which it is anticipated will put some pressure on earnings in the short term.”
PSP Investments has been the most active foreign investor in the Australian farming sector, having acquired assets ranging from macadamia nut plantations to water rights.
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