The Costa family has joined other families and an institutional investor in creating a $120 million equity raising to fund the acquisition and development of three irrigation properties in the Riverina region of NSW that will be converted into high-yielding almond orchards.
The acquisitions are part of a new investment project put together by agricultural development firm goFARM, which is jointly owned by managing director Liam Lenaghan and Costa Asset Management, the private investment arm of the Rich List Costa family, who founded fruit and veg giant Costa Group.
goFARM has bought the Stephendale Vineyard near Griffith and will pull out all the vines. The three properties near Griffith include the 700 hectare Stephendale Vineyard at Yenda, where the vines are in the process of being removed to make way for nut plantings. The vineyard, one of the largest in the region, was previously owned by Hong Kong-listed conglomerate CK Life Sciences and, before that, by the once ASX-listed Challenger Wine Trust.
Source: commercialrealestate.com.au