Simpson Dairy Aggregation attracts premium to split

The southern portion of the Diprose family’s Simpson Dairy Aggregation has been sold to two separate groups, whilst the northern portion remains for sale.

Traversed by Boorook Road, the 854-hectare Boorook Road Hub was divided into two evenly sized properties with the south side (421 hectares) to continue dairying, while the north side (429 hectares) has been purchased by an investor with nearby holdings for alternate use.

Located to the north of Simpson, the 423-hectare Conveys Road Hub remains available on its own as a stand-alone operation with an estimated milking capacity of 750 cows.

Self-contained through a modern 60 bale rotary, a new newly constructed purpose-built calf rearing shed, and multiple residences, the Conveys Road Hub offers a turnkey dairy platform.

The price and details of the purchasers remain undisclosed noting confidentiality, however it is understood the properties transacted in-line with initial price expectations.

JLL Agribusiness Chris Lawlor and Jock Grimshaw negotiated the transactions after a 6-week EOI process.

JLL Agribusiness Director Mr Lawlor said the Simpson Dairy Aggregation’s Boorook Road Hub attracted interest from both institutional and local agriculture investors.

“The Simpson Dairy Aggregation sale process has received a range of interest from a broad cross-section of buyers and ultimately, the Boorook Road Hub was split in order to achieve the best outcome for the vendor.”

“Dairy has continued to perform amongst a changing economic landscape and commodity cycle as competition from processors to secure milk supply has helped to underpin strong sale results for quality farms with scale,” he said.

“Arguably there has never been a better time to buy or expand dairy property and those doing so are able to lower their offtake risk by establishing greater bargaining power with milk processors,” he said.

JLL Agribusiness Associate Director Mr Grimshaw said: “This has been a great result for the vendors following a strategic decision to refocus the time and capital towards their core farming practices and existing operations located at Caramut.”

He said the remaining piece of the Simpson Dairy Aggregation represented a compelling opportunity in the high performing dairy sector.

“The Conveys Road Hub presents an opportunity to both industry operators, and also investors given potential sharemilking arrangements available, to secure a highly developed dairy platform in a first-class dairy region.”