The historic Minjah homestead.

HISTORIC south-west Victorian property Minjah is in the process of being sold to the New South Wales-based company MH Premiums Farms for about $36 million.

The company has refused to confirm the sale or the purchase price, but Sheep Central has been told settlement on the property is expected mid-2021 to allow the current owner time to vacate.

Minjah is a 2846 hectare holding north of Hawkesdale in Victoria’s Western District and has been described as one of Australia’s finest large-scale agricultural holdings.

The arable property is situated in a 750mm rainfall location 30 minutes from Warrnambool and three hours from Melbourne. It is suitable for prime lamb, beef and dairy production, and cropping.

MH Premium Farms is the trading name of the MHPF group of companies that are operated and managed in Australia. MHPF is owned by Sir Michael Hintze, a British-Australian billionaire businessman and philanthropist based in the United Kingdom.

The MH Premium Farms website said the company acquired a range of properties across eastern Australia since 2007. These include more than 41 properties located strategically across several climatic regions with operations in all traditional agricultural enterprises.

The total area the company owns is now more than 70,000 hectares and the production portfolio includes prime lambs, wool and beef; broadacre cropping of cereals and oil-seeds, and; irrigated cotton and sugar.

In July 2014, it was reported that Minjah, then owned by farmer and lamb exporter Tim Clarke and his wife Jen sold the holding to Xinjiang Tianshan Animal Husbandry Bio-engineering for $25.25m.

At the time, Tianshan said the acquisition would help the company enhance its business profile and market position and improve its profitability.

Minjah was established in 1845 and is one of a number of leading Western District pastoral properties developed by brothers Jeremiah, George and Joseph Ware. The nine-bedroom bluestone homestead was designed by Melbourne architects Smith and Johnson and built in 1870.

MH Premiums also owns the 2791 hectare property Cheviot Hills outside Penshurst, north of Warrnambool.