Newcastle veterinarian snaps up historic Plumthorpe for $120m
Hunter Valley veterinary surgeon and businessman John O’Brien and his family have emerged as the buyers of one of the east coast’s premier pastoral aggregations, Plumthorpe, sold last week for more than $124 million.
While the identity of the buyer of Plumthorpe – offloaded by a syndicate that includes British aristocrat Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the Siddle family and former Wallaby Tim Gavin – has not been disclosed, well-placed sources identified the successful purchasers as the O’Briens.
The family paid between $124 million and $125 million, one source said.
The O’Briens are cashed-up after selling their commercial animal health products business Jurox – based at Rutherford – to NYSE-listed animal healthcare giant Zoetis in September, in a deal understood to be worth about $400 million.
The Jurox-Zoetis deal was announced in August last year, but only settled in September this year, after clearance by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Spanning around 28,000 acres (11,300ha) of grazing country in the Manilla River Valley in Northern NSW – 15km from Barraba and 116km north-north-west of Tamworth – the aggregation comprises historic Plumthorpe, which was first settled in 1888, and the adjoining properties of Mayvale and Campo Santo.
Previous owners include the Burdekin family, who grew some of the finest wool in Australia at Plumthorpe, and horse racing identity Bruce McHugh, who bought the property in 1986.
Selling agents Chris Meares, from Meares and Associates, and Charlie Hart, from Hart Rural Agencies, were due to sell Plumthorpe via online auction before securing a sale to an “Australian family with rural interests”.
The agents said Plumpton had made over $3000 per acre for the land component, with an additional sum paid for a 6300-head Angus cattle breeding herd.
Included in the offering was the 10-bedroom, Spanish-style Plumthorpe Homestead – built in 1936 – and all plant and equipment.
The vendors were an ultra-wealthy syndicate headed by Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, the seventh Marquess of Salisbury, a former Conservative politician and chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.
He invested alongside the late Sydney billionaire Paul Ramsay, founder of private hospital operator Ramsay Health Care, who died in 2014.
Current shareholders of Ramsay Pastoral include Ramsay Health Care chairman Michael Siddle, the Siddle family and Mr Gavin, all of whom were significant beneficiaries of Mr Ramsay’s will.
The syndicate bought Plumthorpe for more than $20 million in 2008 from Mr McHugh.
Veteran rural agent Mr Meares, who handled the sale of Plumthorpe in 2008, said there were four main factors driving the rural property market and standout sales such as Plumthorpe.
These included a shortage of properties of its size, scale and quality, the continuation of excellent growing seasons, together with strong commodity prices and the still relatively low cost of funding.
The acceptance of agribusiness globally as a recommended investment asset class was also a key factor.
“There is no doubt that this scale and capacity was what really attracted such a strong field of potential buyers – resulting in the 31 inspections,” Mr Meares said.
At least 90 per cent of those were parties who already owned rural property, looking to expand their operations, he said.
“This speaks very highly for the agricultural sector as one of the outstanding investment sectors in the Australian economy today.”
