Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) has agreed to sell Ucharonidge Station in the Northern Territory to pastoralist Malcolm Harris, reportedly for $30 million.
When the transaction settles, Ucharonidge, which sits of the Barkly Tablelands about 300 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, will be the second CPC property Mr Harris has bought through his company, Cleveland Agriculture.
In October 2018, Mr Harris bought Queensland's Nockatunga Station from CPC, the first property the company sold since its owner, Terra Firma decided to divest the cattle giant.
The 245,550 hectares of Ucharonidge willl be added to Mr Harris' sizable pastoral portfolio, which alongside Nockatunga, includes NT properties Rockhampton Downs Station and Benmara Station, as well as Gogo Station in Western Australia's Kimberley.
CPC chief executive Troy Setter told ABC Rural that Ucharonidge would fit in well with Mr Harris' other cattle assets.
"We used to use [Ucharonidge] to supply feeder and grower cattle down to Nockatunga Station in South West Queensland, and I would say that could be part of his strategy," he said.
Ucharonidge, which CPC says has a carrying capacity of just under 20,000 head of cattle, is mostly open downs Mitchell grass country with some red soil.
Ucharonidge de-stocked because of Barkly drought
Ucharonidge is one of a number of stations on the Barkly that have been hit hard by two successive failed wet seasons.
Around 500,000 head of cattle have been trucked off cattle stations across the region over the last few months.
Mr Setter would not reveal the number of cattle included in the sale, but ABC Rural understands there were recently only about 500 cows still on Ucharonidge.
"It was a walk-in-walk-out sale, and the property is reasonably de-stocked because of the drought," Mr Setter said.
"It is quite a dry season for Ucharonidge this year, but unfortunately for some people they've got worse conditions, but it has been fairly well destocked because of poor conditions."
CPC has now sold or entered contracts to sell eight of its cattle stations, with nine more properties across the NT and Queensland, and majority interest in two Indonesian feedlots, still on the market.
Last month, CPC entered into a contract to sell Manbulloo Station to an investor, in April and March, Sterling Buntine purchased Comely and Mimong Stations, and in January CPC agreed to sell Auvergne, Newry and Argyle Stations to a Vietnamese company.
"CPC still has one of the biggest pastoral holdings in Australia, comprising 3.5 million hectares of land across nine stations with a carrying capacity of some 300,000 head of cattle, plus two feedlots in Indonesia with nearly 30,000 head of capacity," Mr Setter said in a statement.
"Our portfolio has strong geographic diversity as well as a valuable supply chain in Indonesia and remains attractive to buyers as a whole or in parts."
