An investment syndicate made up of Riverina farmers has claimed it was locked out of buying a Temora-based agribusiness in favour of a overseas bidder.
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Richard Stott, from the Agrinova syndicate of Riverina investors, said the group’s $270 million bid for Temora’s BFB Limited was $60 million higher than an offer from Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
Mr Stott said the Agrinova bid would have created more economic growth for the region and the group had planned to invest $120m into BFB after buying the company.
“We were told (by the owners of BFB) that our tendered price had been accepted and we were going to stage two, and then we were locked out,” he said.
BFB is currently owned by Proterra Investment Partners, a multinational private equity investment firm with its head office in the United States.
Proterra did not respond to a request for comment.
Proterra kicked off speculation of a bidding war in September when it invited offers for BFB’s 48,700-hectare grain growing, storage and pig production operation.
Mr Stott called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to explain why BFB should remain in overseas hands given, as treasurer, he led a crackdown on foreign ownership in agriculture.
“(The government) have got to look at it with the FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board),” he said.
Mr Stott said Agrinova would lodge an objection with FIRB, the government body that can be called on to scrutinise proposed foreign business purchases, especially of agricultural land.
“That’s where we are heading to,” he said.
Mr Stott said companies were entitled to select lower bids for their assets but Agrinova “was not happy” with the process, which had resulted in “a waste of time”.
Spread from the Riverina to the mid Lachlan Valley, BFB’s business includes a 332,000-tonne grain storage site owned in partnership with global farm commodities giant, Cargill.
Temora-based BFB started out as a trucking company in the late 1980s, expanded into cropping and storage, and now includes a piggery plus fuel and fertiliser distribution operations.
BFB has amassed 28 properties, including at Henty, Gundagai and West Wyalong, and employs 138 people and produces about 110,000 tonnes of wheat, barley and canola a year.
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