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Vicinity boss Grant Kelley puts $20m sheep station up for sale

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Vicinity Centres boss Grant Kelley has put his family's prized South Australian sheep station – Maylands on the Fleurieu Peninsula – up for sale with a price tag of more than $20 million.

Covering 1500 hectares at Parawa, about 90 kilometres south of Adelaide, Maylands consists of three contiguous farms: Callawonga, Maylands and Bramleys.

The aggregation consists of three contiguous farms – Callawonga, Maylands and Bramleys.  

The aggregation is owned by Holdfast Capital, the Adelaide-based private investment vehicle of the Kelley family, of which Mr Kelley is the chairman.

Compiled since 2010, the final parcel – the 735-hectare Maylands Farm – was acquired from winemaker Brian Croser, founder of Petaluma wines, for $6.9 million in May 2016.

Holdfast's other assets include the Adelaide 36ers basketball team and a 400-acre (162-ha) bluegum plantation in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula.

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Mr Kelley became CEO of shopping centre landlord Vicinity Centres in January 2018 after a long career in corporate real estate that included executive roles in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Grant Kelley has had a long career in corporate real estate.  Wayne Taylor

At Vicinity, he is now driving a major reshaping of its portfolio amid the retail headwinds, with a focus on destination centres such as Chadstone Shopping Centre and Emporium Melbourne.

Maylands is run as a sheep-breeding operation and is also suitable for cattle production (including high-value Wagyu breeding) and vineyard development.

It is located in a high rainfall area (averaging approximately 921mm per annum) and features extensive water catchment rights

Holdfast CEO Asa Cowell, the former CEO of the Adelaide 36ers, said it was the right time in the cycle and life of the asset to divest Maylands.

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"We have completed our planned capital works program at Maylands and the aggregation is now of the scale and quality required to be a highly productive and efficient farming enterprise," Mr Cowell said.

"The prevailing market conditions are excellent, with high agricultural commodity prices and low interest rates".

Tom Russo and Adam Chilcott from Elders have been appointed to sell Maylands via an expressions of interest campaign.

“It is rare for an asset of this scale and quality to be offered in the South Australian farmland market, let alone the high-rainfall Fleurieu Peninsula”, Mr Russo said.

“Accordingly, we are expecting significant interest in the asset from local, interstate and corporate buyers.

"In particular, we are witnessing significant levels of interest in South Australian farmland assets from drought-affected northern farmers seeking to diversify their portfolios and access feed. This asset will be highly attractive to those buyers," he said.

Last October, Holdfast sold Lost Buoy Wines and vineyards at Port Willunga in the McLaren Vale to local group Savitas Wines.

Larry Schlesinger writes on real estate, specialising in commercial and residential property. Larry is based in our Melbourne newsroom. Connect with Larry on Twitter. Email Larry at larry.schlesinger@afr.com

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