Australia's largest private landholders have put their cattle business up for sale amid strong overseas demand for local agriculture.
The Adelaide-based S Kidman & Co is one of the country's largest beef producers with 200,000 cattle and pastoral leases covering 110,000 square kilometres in cental Australia.
It is controlled by the Kidman family, who were ranked 37 on the 2014 BRW rich families list, worth $364 million.
The Kidmans are the descendants of company founder and iconic pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman, known as the cattle king, who once owned or controlled as much as 280,000 square kilometres of Australian land.
S Kidman & Co owns 11 outback cattle stations including Anna Creek Station in South Australia, which at 23,000 square kilometres is world's largest.
It also has properties in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, many of which have been held for more than a century.
Managing director Greg Campbell said the sale represented a decision by the Kidman family to capitalise on the present demand for Australian agricultural assets.
"Many of the family have other existing investments in Australian agriculture and elsewhere and the sale will allow them to convert long term capital gains into cash to support their other businesses and investments," he said.
Among the major agricultural deals done in recent times, Canada's Saputo took control of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory for $500 million, and Brazilian-listed meat giant JBS is taking control of smallgoods maker Primo Group.
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