THE world's largest cattle station, Anna Creek, will be offered separately for sale by cattle company S.Kidman and Co.
Anna Creek is located in northern South Australia and covers an area of 23,677 square kilometres. It accounts for almost one quarter of the total land area of the S. Kidman and Co pastoral operations.
The break-up plan gives disgruntled Kidman family members the chance to bid for some of the empire.
Existing shareholders will be given the first opportunity to purchase Anna Creek and retain it under separate administration.
When the Kidman sale was originally announced in April there was speculation a breakaway consortium of family members and other investors would look at making a bid for the entire operation or part of the historic 10.1 million-hectare venture.
Although the full sale had support from most Kidman family shareholders, quite a few descendants of Sir Sidney Kidman had strongly opposed cutting ties with the successful enterprise given the strong market fundamentals for Australian beef.
S.Kidman and Co confirmed the separate sale process in a statement today, just over three weeks after federal Treasurer Scott Morrison moved to prevent the sale of S. Kidman and Co to a foreign investor.
S. Kidman and Co managing director Greg Campbell said Anna Creek would be sold to existing shareholders or other Australian buyers, separately to the remainder of the company, which would remain for sale as a going concern.
Mr Campbell said carving out Anna Creek, while undesirable in an operational sense, was required to address the national security and portfolio land area concerns of the Commonwealth government.
In November the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), through the Treasurer, cited concerns over the portion of Anna Creek Station within the occasional use “green zone” of the Woomera Prohibited Area, and further concerns over the land area within the Kidman portfolio of remote arid zone properties.
"The removal of Anna Creek means the area of land being sold is reduced by a quarter and the Woomera Prohibited Area and its defence interests are removed and substantially buffered from the remaining land area being offered," the Kidman statement said.
The balance of the operations of S. Kidman and Co is intended to be sold as a going concern with the existing head office, managers and employees remaining with the business.
S.Kidmand Co says over 99 per cent of the remaining land area being sold is pastoral leases meaning the ownership of the land will remain in Australian hands.
The S. Kidman & Co company was founded in 1899 when Sir Sidney Kidman took over the pastoral business he and his brother had established some years earlier.
The majority of the shares in the unlisted public company remain owned by Kidman descendants and their extended families.
The cattle business holds approximately 1.3 per cent of Australia’s total land area, and 2.5 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land.
It comprises 10 cattle stations, including properties across regional South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland covering 101,411 square kilometres and managing a long-term average herd of 185,000 cattle.
While significant, Kidman's cattle herd represents less than one per cent of the Australian cattle herd.
