Financial Review | 4 September 2016
Australia's largest wheat grower sells to US Westchester
...MOREby Matthew CranstonUS giant TIAA's Westchester has purchased a major part of northern NSW cropping farm Milton Downs from Australia's biggest wheat grower Greentree Farming for a figure some estimate to be in the vicinity of $50 million.Details of the drawn-out deal have been kept quiet but sources told The Australian Financial Review that Westchester had completed a deal for a 10,000-hectare parcel of land in the south eastern part of the Milton Downs aggregation.Greentree Farming is owned by Ron Greentree and Ken Harris. They were unavailable for comment on the deal.The overall property, at Bellata outside Moree, was placed on the market more than two years ago in conjunction with the property known as Boolcarrol with expectations the aggregation could sell for between $150 to $200 million.Milton Downs has had numerous prominent owners including the Kahlbetzer family's Twynam Group and Dick Honan's Manildra Group which once owned and developed Milton Downs.Ray White Rural's Bruce Gunning had been marketing the 50,000 hectares of black soil country, of which 90 per cent has been cultivated. He was unavailable for comment on the deal.From the beginning of the selling campaign the property was expected to attract the attention of US financial services giant TIAA which has purchased well over $1 billion worth of rural land in Australia in the last seven years....
