REGIONAL Infrastructure Australia (RIPL) has fast established a reputation as the principal backer of the country's saleyards, continuing its reign as the biggest investor in the Australian livestock supply chain in recent years.
The trend for local councils to hand over control to private investors has been amplified in recent years by RIPL's umbrella company Palisade Investment Partners' $70 million commitment to developing former municipal-owned yards.
"They're long-term infrastructure assets that have sustainable throughput and, frankly, there is an opportunity to regionalise facilities, which is the last component of the livestock industry that has any small-scale government involvement," RIPL general manager Garry Edwards said.
"The type of people interested (in investing) are superannuation funds that are after long-term-sustainable, albeit relatively low, consistent returns that are well under 10 per cent.
"The difference is they are in a position to deploy equity where historically this would have been done off debt."
Palisade has been public with its multi-million-dollar plans to invest in developing eastern Australian saleyard facilities since 2008.
These include the Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange at Barnawartha North, which is set to be completed early next year, and the Central Victorian Livestock Exchange (CVLX), Ballarat, for which plans are currently going through the approval process with the City of Ballarat.
Other existing saleyards that have been bought or leased by Palisade include NSW's Inverell Regional Livestock Exchange and Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange, as well as the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange, Gracemere, Queensland.
Most designs are based on the successful Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange, Carcoar, NSW.
Following the opening of the Northern Victorian Livestock Exchange early next year, the company has flagged CVLX as the next site to commence construction.
"Ballarat plans are presently in the planning process with council – we have some further consultation with stakeholders finalising designs and we will work through that process before construction starts," Mr Edwards said.
"From completion of the planning process to commencing construction, by the time you finalise tenders, it is approximately 12 months.
"We would like to see it done faster but inevitably they take time."
He said a realistic timeframe to completion was two years once approved by council.
The company's Victorian interest also includes a South West regional saleyards, dubbed the "Super Southern Saleyards" by local agents, which will combine the Warrnambool city with the Moyne and Corangamite shire councils livestock catchments.
"We haven't picked any sites – we are still looking at the region and forming a regional advisory committee which will involve representatives from Warrnambool, Camperdown and, I suspect, the Moyne area too," he said.
"This will be a regional facility.
"The days of single-town saleyards are limited in the future because of a range of reasons with encroachment and economies of scale.
"The issue of regionalisation of selling facilities will happen whether people like it or not."
RIPL's public interest in managing the Warrnambool saleyards and developing a South West Victoria cattle facility ignited fierce objection from some livestock agents and nearby businesses, which Mr Edwards said was based on "emotional factors that don't ring true to what the project will be".
"I hope the experience in northern Victoria at Wodonga will give people a better idea about the reality of these projects – the first of its kind in the past 12 years," he said.