The contentious and long-running sale of the historic S. Kidman and Company pastoral empire is still taking more twists and turns than a snake in the spinifex.
The federal government is now being urged to block Gina Rinehart’s final run to take control of the Kidman estate unless the mining magnate assures regulators she will not sell down her majority stake to Chinese partner, Shanghai CRED.
Vocal opponent of foreign ownership of Australian farmland and North Queensland MP, Bob Katter, wants “unequivocal assurances” Shanghai CRED’s involvement in the Kidman bid will remain as a 33 per cent stakeholder, or less. He also wants One Nation’s Senator Pauline Hanson to re-think her support for Mrs Rinehart’s beef partnership with the Chinese – support not shared by fellow One Nation Senator, Rod Cullerton.
Senator Cullerton, from Western Australia, has described the sale to Mrs Rinehart’s partnership as representing a clear example of how farmland is being sold off to foreign investors. He believed the deal would effectively "gift the land" to China.
Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and Gui Guojie's Shanghai CRED rural property and real estate business jointly own Australian Outback Beef (AOB) which last week delivered a knockout punch to its bidding rivals in the latest round of the 18-month Kidman company sale saga. Just over a week ago an all-Australian farming family syndicate launched a $386 million counter bid to AOB’s original offer for the 10.1m hectare Kidman beef estate, But it had pulled out of the race by last Friday.
The Buntine, Brinkworth, Harris and Oldfield (BBHO) family group withdrew after learning S. Kidman and Co directors unanimously recommended their shareholders accept a new, “superior offer” from Mrs Rinehart’s partnership.
The mining billionaire seems set to seal regulatory approval in Canberra by promising to buy the whole Kidman pastoral operation herself if the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) is still be uneasy about Shanghai CRED’s involvement.