THE world's largest cattle station, Anna Creek, will be offered separately for sale by cattle business S. Kidman & Co.
Anna Creek, in northern SA and its outstation, The Peake, cover 23,677 square kilometres, accounting for almost a quarter of the total land area of S. Kidman & Co's pastoral operations.
Friday's exclusion from the sale of the main Kidman business has enabled new bids to be submitted to Treasurer Scott Morrison, who knocked back a bid from Chinese buyers in November.
Mr Morrison, responding to recommendations from the Foreign Investment Review Board, said the original sale was not in the national interest because of the landholding's size and proximity to the Woomera weapons testing range.
The break-up plan also gives disgruntled Kidman family members the chance to bid for some of the pastoral empire. Existing shareholders will be given the first opportunity to buy Anna Creek and retain it under separate administration.
When the Kidman sale was first announced in April there was speculation a breakaway consortium of family members and other investors would look at making a bid for the entire cattle operation or part of the historic 10.1 million-hectare venture.
Although the full sale had support from most Kidman family shareholders, quite a few descendants of Sir Sidney Kidman had strongly opposed cutting ties with the successful enterprise given the strong market fundamentals for Australian beef.
Managing director Greg Campbell said Anna Creek would be sold to existing shareholders or other Australian buyers, separately to the remainder of the company, which would remain for sale as a going concern.
He said while carving out Anna Creek was undesirable in an operational sense, it was required to address the national security and portfolio land area concerns of the Commonwealth government.
Mr Campbell has not revealed how many bids were relodged, or who was behind them.
China's Shanghai Pengxin Group and Hong Kong-based investment firm Genius Link Asset Management were reportedly previously at the front of the international pack vying for the Kidman business, bidding up to $370m prior to the latest carve up plan being announced.
In November FIRB cited concerns about the portion of Anna Creek Station within the Woomera Prohibited Area, and further concerns about the land area within the Kidman portfolio of remote arid zone properties.
The balance of the Kidman operations were intended to sell as a going concern with employees remaining with the business.
