Treasurer, Scott Morrison’s view that the proposed sale of the Kidman Station to a Chinese consortium is “not in the national interest”, may encourage more investors to back a crowd-funding campaign, orchestrated by DomaCom.
Following last week’s decision to block the $370 million deal for the station, DomaCom chief executive, Arthur Naoumidis, expressed hope that it would bolster support for firm’s crowd-funding effort.
DomaCom launched its crowd-funding bid for the Kidman Station in December, following the Treasurer’s decision to reject a bid from another Chinese company, the Penxing Group, and saw 5,000 investors pledge more than $70 million over the following three months.
“What the DomaCom campaign clearly demonstrated is that there is genuine public interest in keeping the iconic Kidman pastoral station in Australian hands, and that ‘mum and dad’ investors want to have a stake in the country’s agricultural heritage,” Naoumidis said.
“Hopefully it will encourage more retail investors to come forward and invest in Kidman. Aside from the issue of keeping it in Australian hands, the investment reality is that under our proposal, the land will be separated from the operating business, with the land expected to return about eight to nine per cent to our investors.
“We also hope it’s a wake-up call for our large superannuation funds and asset managers to give a higher priority to agricultural investment to allow our prime pastoral and cropping land to remain in Australian hands.”
