Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and its investment partner New Agriculture have announced plans to buy the Kimberley Cattle Portfolio in Western Australia’s northeast.

The agreement covers Yougawalla Pastoral Co and Argyle Cattle Co, both in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, and will see Haydn and Jane Sale retained as managers of the large-scale cattle breeding business.

Beef Central first wrote about the Kimberley Cattle Co sale developments in this item back in September.

The portfolio consists of seven pastoral leases covering 1.8 million ha in total, five sub-leases covering 924,325ha, and an agistment agreement over 153,475ha.

It was offered for sale by the Chinese Hui family’s Archstone Investment Group through LAWD, and expressions of interest closed November 9.

AIMCo is one of Canada’s largest institutional investment managers, which invests globally on behalf of pension, endowment and government funds in the Alberta province.

The company has invested in Australia for many years, firstly in forestry and most recently in agriculture through the acquisition of mixed-farming business Lawson Grains in January 2022.

It has since added to the Lawson Grains portfolio with two acquisitions in New South Wales: Jemalong Station near Forbes, and Green Park near Rand.

New Agriculture is an agriculture investment manager headquartered in Australia, established to both manage Lawson Grains and to build a portfolio of agriculture assets globally, starting in Australia and New Zealand.

New Agriculture is backed by New Forests, founded in 2005 in Sydney as a global investment manager of nature-based real assets.

“The Kimberley Cattle Portfolio, AIMCo’s first investment in this sector, is an established and well-managed asset that provides important diversification in our client portfolios,” AIMCo executive managing director and head of and renewables resources Ben Hawkins said.

“We are very pleased to continue our partnership with New Agriculture, which will contribute its deep asset management and sustainability expertise as we seek to achieve both positive investment returns and community impact.”

New Agriculture director Bruce King said the portfolio offered a key opportunity to manage for strong investment outcomes and leading sustainability objectives.

“With up to 25 percent of the solution to climate change expected to come from the land-use sector, we have a responsibility to manage these landscapes for sustainability outcomes, and with our local communities in mind,” Mr King said.

“New Agriculture will continue to focus on sustainability practices which allow for not only the protection and restoration of landscapes, but which also lead to the enhancement of natural capital over time.”

A price has not been disclosed, and the sale is subject to approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Western Australian Lands Department.