A not-for-profit superannuation fund is sinking $6.7 million into a wagyu beef operation at Ebor in north-west New South Wales.
The investment by First State Super will give Stone Axe Pastoral the capital it needs to develop the largest full-blood wagyu cattle herd outside Japan.
Damien Graham, First State Super's chief investment officer, said Stone Axe Pastoral had a successful record in growing the wagyu business, which made it a very enticing investment.
"When you look at the growth and the opportunity for this particular business, it looks very significant and that's very exciting from our perspective," he said.
The investment will allow the pastoral company to substantially expand its operations at its Glen Alvie property in northern NSW.
The NSW Government has invested an additional $3.3 million in Stone Axe Pastoral in its first investment under the $150 million GO NSW Equity Fund.
They estimate the deal will create 76 new jobs across cow-calf operations, management and finance, feedlot, genetics and breeding, sales and marketing and the executive board, along with another 114 indirect jobs.
Modelling by the Australian Wagyu Association estimates total wagyu production at Stone Axe Pastoral will grow to 74,703 tonnes by 2022, representing an average increase in production of 21 per cent per year.
Full blood wagyu is expected to account for approximately 90 per cent of wagyu exports in 2022.
"The partnership ... will help the company expand in and around Ebor," Stone Axe Pastoral CEO Scott Richardson said.
The company was founded by Mathew Walker, the son of Chris Walker who was responsible for bringing the first wagyu genetics into Australia.
