Senior federal government ministers say any proposal by Indonesia to buy Australian farmland for cattle grazing will be under joint venture arrangements.accoeding to SKY News Australia.

The Indonesian government has expressed interest in acquiring a large tranche of pastoral land in northern Australia to breed cattle, but the proposal has worried some within the coalition ranks.

Before being made agriculture minister, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce suggested such purchases may not be in the national interest but he’s since softened his stance.

‘These are certainly things that can be closely investigated to see if they’re in our national interest,’ he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

It comes as Prime Minister Tony Abbott sought to reassure Indonesia that the Foreign Review Investment Board was not designed to ‘lock up’ Australia to prospective investors.

The coalition government has vowed to introduce a national register of foreign-owned farming land, and to apply a national interest test to all proposals worth $15 million or more, down from a cap of $248 million.

Mr Joyce said he’d be happy to discuss any proposal that would take pressure off farming families in the north who are struggling due to dry conditions.

The government was exploring options around pastoral leases in northern Australia, and the possibility of joint-venture arrangements around land ownership.

‘We’ve talked about joint venture arrangements with the Indonesians, which are a good idea,’ Mr Joyce said.

Indonesian government officials have said a shortage of suitable domestic grazing land and a growing demand for protein has forced the nation to look abroad for more acreage.

They’re believed to be interested in acquiring between one and one and a half million hectares of land in northern Australia’s cattle country.

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb said Australia was skilled at breeding cattle, while Indonesia had proved adept at fattening stock.

Both countries could benefit by sharing their expertise, and Indonesia could learn much by working in partnership with the Australian cattle industry, he said.

‘They want to see a lot of joint activity,’ he told Sky News.

‘If they get to the point of buying any properties in Australia they should consider the joint venture, because their primary desire is to learn more about the industry.’

Mr Robb hosed down fears about foreign land ownership, saying outsiders had been buying Australian farmland ‘since the year dot’.

He said the Indonesian proposal being discussed would involve about 3000 grazing cattle, which was not much considering Australia managed tens of millions head of stock.

‘We’re not talking big licks of land,’ he said.

Relations between Australia and Indonesia were soured in 2011 when the then Labor government temporarily suspended live cattle exports due to concerns about the treatment of the animals in Indonesian abattoirs.

Although the ban was lifted months later, Indonesia reduced its annual cattle import quota from 660,000 head to 260,000.

The government hopes Indonesia’s agreement to increase its import quota for the December quarter by an extra 53,000 animals could help set trade back on course.

This artcile first appeared in SKY News Australia 3 October 2013

How we can help

BoxRED Corporate are a specialist Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness private equity manager and boutique corporate services and advisory firm with a proven track record in successful Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness project development, operation, and investments and deep linkages to Asian and Pacific markets

ABOUT US

We are a specialist Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness private equity manager whose team has a proven track record in the three dimensions critical to achieving superior returns:

Successful Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness sourcing, development, operation and commercialisation

Deep linkages to Asian and Pacific markets – in particular, with commodity purchasers and end users, Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness companies, investors and governments

Private equity investment management

We are also a  boutique corporate services and advisory firm with a proven track record in successful Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness project development, operation, and investments and deep linkages to Asian and Pacific markets.

We are majority owned by The Merkin Group , The Rothsey Family Office in Australia with shareholdings expected to be held by Business Succession Partners Hong Kong.

 PROFILE

Our unique strengths are:

• The outstanding track record of our team members as agribusiness discoverers, developers, operators, managers and investors with an ability to recognise and unlock significant value by advancing projects from sourcing through to production;
• Our experience, deep linkages in, and knowledge of, the Australian, New Zealand ,Asian and Pacific buyers market, which provides us with a unique insight into commodities demand and access to exit scenarios; and
• An investment strategy which allows our highly experienced team to identify and unlock value from high quality asset opportunities at various stages of the agribusiness life cycle

This enables us to be more effective in originating proprietary investment opportunities, evaluating project potential and project risks, adding value to investee companies and generating successful exit outcomes.

BoxRED Corporate has offices in Noosa and Hong Kong with representatives in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane Adelaide, Bahamas, Cayman Island and networks across the globe.

Most pertinently we have an array of strategic relationships with legal, financial, technical, operational, political, research, financial services, capital and debt markets, asset and property managers, industry advisors and managers and other professionals which can provide an end to end solution for the Fund and Investment Managers, our third party clients and our Investee companies alike

WHAT WE DO

 BoxRED Corporate is the manager of the proposed The BoxRED Corporate Australian and New Zealand Agribusiness Fund (“The Fund”).

On behalf of the Fund,The Rothsey Family Office and our third party clients our role includes the following:

• Identify, originate and screen investment opportunities
• Evaluate potential investments
• Perform thorough technical, commercial, financial and legal due diligence on potential investments
• Structure and execute investments
• Identify and secure joint venture partners and financiers
• Source project funding where required
• Manage, and grow the value of, Fund investments, and third party client investments including participating on the Board of Directors of investee companies
• Physically manage assets and properties (where applicable)
• Execute the realisation of investments

Operate and administer the Fund (where applicable)

Manage and represent our third party client’s interests (where applicable)