THE sell-off of Elders' less profitable assets continues with the agribusiness confirming the anticipated sale of its 776-hectare feedlot and cropping property at Charlton in Victoria to beef processor Teys Australia.
The $10.1 million deal follows last month's sale of its half share in the 19-store Elders New Zealand business to NZ-based Carr Group.
That deal, like the Charlton sale, is expected to be finalised by the end of the month, although the NZ business will continue to trade under the Elders name.
Teys Australia operates six beef processing plants across eastern Australia at Naracoorte in South Australia; Wagga Wagga and Tamworth in NSW, and Beenleigh, Rockhampton and Biloela in Queensland.
The company, a joint venture between its Australian family founders and US farm commodity processing giant Cargill, already operates two cattle feedlots at Jindalee in NSW and Condamine in Queensland.
Charlton feedlot, with a 20,000-head capacity, is one of Victoria's biggest beef feedlots with 150 hectares of livestock infrastructure, feed mills, flaking plants and related facilities.
However, chief executive officer and managing director, Mark Allison said it was not one of Elders' core operations and its contribution to Elders balance sheet had been variable at times considering the capital expenditure involved.
He said the sale marked a further step towards Elders' commitment to "simplify the business, concentrate on high return activities and reduce debt".
Last financial year Elders cut its net debt 25 per cent largely through asset sales including the disposal of its Futuris Automotive parts business for $69m.
Other recent divestments include a $15 million (20pc) stake in southern Queensland's Kilcoy abattoir and insurance assets to QBE Insurance.
Debt-heavy Elders flagged the NZ and Victorian sales earlier this year as part of its second half-year strategy to further cut its $236.6 million debt.
Also expected to be offloaded soon is the farm services company's half share in the diverse logistics and storage business, AWH, (formerly Australian Wool Holdings) owned in partnership with farm services rival Landmark. AWH is one of Australia's biggest warehousing companies, with 16 warehouse sites in regional and capital cities nationwide.
It has about 40pc of its 630,000 square metres of space dedicated to wool bales, but also stores cotton, grain and fertiliser, mining machinery, spare parts and even soft drink bottles.
Elders' 50pc of the AWH business has a book value of $30m.
The company does not propose selling its other feedlot, "Killara" on the NSW Liverpool Plains, which has been fully-owned by Elders since 2010, or its Indonesian feedlot venture.
In NZ the new Elders farm services business owner, the Carr Group, is a family-owned business based on the South Island operating in the machinery and automotive, and arable products and services sectors. Its farming investments including Agri Livestock Limited and Stradbroke Dairy Limited.