CANBERRA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- An Australian cattle empire has been put up for sale with the final price expected to go close to 1 billion Australian dollars (778 million U.S. dollars).
The Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) owns 16 cattle stations in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia (WA) covering 55,000 square kilometers, a land mass bigger than Switzerland (41,300 square kilometers).
Terra Firma, an English private equity firm, bought the company's founder, late Australian billionaire Kerry Packer, out of the business in 2009 for an estimated 425 million Australian dollars (331 million U.S. dollars).
Despite significant foreign interest in the business, Consolidated Pastoral Company Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Troy Setter said that Australian buyers would have the opportunity to participate in the bidding process.
"We have spent a lot of time and effort planning the process to make sure that Australian buyers are given every opportunity to participate," Setter told Fairfax Media on Friday.
Since Terra Firma's takeover, Setter said the firm had invested 50 million Australian dollars (38.9 million U.S. dollars) in the business to increase its carrying capacity by more than 50,000 head of cattle.
"We have increased productivity through the development of land including watering holes and fencing as well as the application of technology and genetics," he said.
"There is a great opportunity for the next owner to invest and drive more value through the development of CPC's stations. We have an additional 3.1 million hectares of land that could be developed."
In 2016, the 101,000-square kilometer S Kidman and Company cattle empire was sold to a consortium made up of Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart and Chinese real estate giant Shanghai CRED for 386.5 million Australian dollars (301 million U.S. dollars).
Despite covering more land, Kidman had carrying capacity for only 185,000 cattle compared to CPC's 400,000.
In addition to the 16 Australian stations, CPC also owns an 80 percent stake in two Indonesian feedlots.
The sale will be overseen by Goldman Sachs with any potential foreign buyers requiring approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) before the sale can be finalized.
