Iron ore magnate and Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart has purchased up to a 50 percent stake in the Liveringa and Nerrima cattle stations in WA’s West Kimberly region.
The purchase is a joint venture between Rinehart’s business, Hancock Prospecting, and Dowford Investments which is owned by Graham Laitt and his family- the owners of the Milne AgriGroup, AFR reports.
Their new company, Liveringa Station Beef (LSB) will cover over 470,000 hectares, and span the Fitzroy river. Rinehart said that the new company will be well placed to help meet Asia's insatiable taste for Australian beef.
“Australia’s north has vast potential as a food producer and we are well placed to meet the growing needs of our Asian neighbours,” Rinehart said in a statement.
“My family has had a long history in the West Australian pastoral industry with our interest continuing over generations in Mulga Downs Station in the Pilbara,”
“I spent part of my childhood growing up on Mulga Downs and in the Pilbara, and have had a life-long regard for people in the outback, particularly in Northern Australia,” she said.
The purchase is estimated to have cost in excess of $65m, with speculation the Rinehart’s share was at the $40m mark.