by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 11:06 AM
The sale of Australia’s largest cattle estate to Chinese buyers has been blocked by the local government, ruling that the sale is “not in the national interest”.
Chinese companies Genius Link Group and Shanghai Pengxin were engaged in a bidding war to purchase the vast properties of S. Kidman and Co for AUD $350 million ($251 million). Estimated to be about 1.3 percent of Australia’s total land area, the estate is larger than Scotland and three-quarters the size of England.
Areas marked in red are the S. Kidman properties that were for sale.
Australia’s Treasurer, Scott Morrison, was unwilling to authorize the sale to foreign investors due to concerns that valuable agricultural and mineral assets would fall into non-Australian hands.
“Consistent with the recommendation from the Foreign Investment Review Board, I have decided that the acquisition by foreign investors of S. Kidman and Co would be contrary to the national interest and shall not be authorizing the sale to proceed as currently proposed,” said Morrison.
Morrison said the decision was due to the scale of Kidman’s portfolio, as well as security issues related to access to of the land, which, in the past, has been used to test nuclear bombs, launch satellites and track space missions.
“Australia welcomes foreign investment where it is consistent with our national interests,” he said.
Australian President Malcolm Turnbull insisted the decision has nothing to do with anti-Chinese sentiment. “You would be wrong to assume that there was only one foreign country associated with buyers,” he said. “So there’s no issue of discrimination here.”
Australia has become a top investment destination for Chinese millionaires due to the favorable exchange rate.
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