THE reach of super saleyards operator, Regional Livestock Exchanges (RLX) will now extend into the Hunter following an agreement to take control of the Singleton saleyards site.
RLX has agreed to terms with Singleton Council for a long-term lease of the Singleton Regional Livestock Market (SRLM) yesterday.
The SRLM facility will be rebranded as part of the transition process and will trade as the Hunter Regional Livestock Exchange (HRLX) becoming the eighth facility in the RLX national portfolio.
Singleton Council's director corporate and community services Anthony Egan, said it was an advantageous outcome for the Singleton community following the major upgrade of the site.
"Singleton Regional Livestock Market is an important economic and historic facility for the local community and Council is committed to ensuring the facility provides the best value not only for sales agents and buyers, but the people of Singleton," he said.
"The lease arrangement with RLX provides the potential to reposition the SRLM in the marketplace to attract new agents and increased stock levels in order to grow the business, while at the same time retaining community ownership of an important historic and economically strategic asset."
Mr Egan said RLX had been granted access to the site to begin initial transitional activities.
"Council assures the agents and buyers who regularly trade at the Singleton sales that they won't notice anything but positive improvements to operations," he said.
RLX is Australia's largest owner and operator of livestock selling facilities with livestock sales across its sites exceeding $1 billion annually.
"Our mission is to deliver value to our clients on all levels by striving to provide industry best practice in livestock presentation and marketing to maximise returns for our clients", said Garry Edwards, managing director of AAM Investment Group which is the operator of the facilities.
"The RLX business focuses on developing regionally significant, modern facilities within strategic locations and as such we believe this facility in the Lower Hunter has the potential for real growth."
RLX is collaboratively working with Singleton Council to ensure that the transition of management of the facility will be as seamless as possible with the first stage of improvements to the facility scheduled to commence in July.
The RLX portfolio currently includes sites at Rockhampton in Queensland; Inverell; Tamworth; Carcoar; and the Victorian centres of Wodonga, Ballarat, and Camperdown.
