The historic Kadlunga aggregation has been sold off-market to George and Sophie Millington, resulting in a contiguous holding of almost 1,000 hectares of blue ribbon cropping country being offered to the market.
The aggregation is located near Mintaro in the Clare Valley and spans some 3,923 hectares of what many people consider to be some of South Australia’s finest farmland.
Since purchasing the historic Kadlunga farm in early 2017 the vendors, the Edmunds Family, have acquired an additional 1,600 hectares of surrounding country and has invested in significant improvements to the iconic Kadlunga homestead and farming infrastructure. Having completed much of his planned improvement program, Mr Edmunds is moving on to focus on new projects in the agricultural space.
“Kadlunga is a very special place and we are very proud of the contribution we have made to improving it”, said Mr Edmunds. “We had not intended to realise our investment this early, however we have decided to exit on the basis that the terms negotiated with Mr Millington are very fair and this sale will ensure that this truly iconic asset will be placed into the hands of a terrific South Australian farming family. The Millingtons will no doubt be wonderful custodians of Kadlunga”.
The Millington family own and operate the award winning Collinsville Stud based near Hallett in South Australia. The stud is very highly regarded in both South Australian and nationally.
“Kadlunga will further enhance Collinsville’s geographical and production diversity, by securing our ability to grow grain and fodder in some of South Australia’s most reliable country”, said Mr Millington. “The acquisition will therefore allow us to expand our operations and support our strategic objective of consistently breeding the highest quality Australian Merino Sheep for our customers nationwide year in year out”. “Kadlunga will be a wonderful asset for our family for generations to come.”
The sale was initiated and negotiated on an off-market basis through buyers agents Phil Keen and Tom Russo from Elders.
“This is a visionary acquisition. It’s exciting to see such a strong level of confidence and willingness to invest in the future of Merino breeding from one of our State’s most passionate and progressive producers”, said Mr Russo.
The sale will also trigger the opportunity for other buyers to acquire high quality cropping country that forms part of the expansive aggregation under a flexible expression of interest process that will allow for bids on parcels from 200 hectares to 1,000 hectares in size.
“Given that the primary focus of Mr Millington’s operations is Merino breeding, some of the surrounding cropping land is not considered to be of strategic importance. He will therefore be giving the market the opportunity to acquire that surplus land”, explained Mr Russo. “We will be calling for expressions of interest for just under 1,000 hectares of that land, as a whole or in parts, over the next two months. Given the quality of this land, and the tightly held nature of the district, this is a genuinely rare and compelling opportunity for existing farmers in the district and potential new entrants looking for instant scale”, said Mr Russo.