Saudi's SALIC Makes First Australian Farming Acquisition

A unit of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) has announced the acquisition of Baladjie, an aggregation of over 200,000 hectares of farming in Western Australia’s wheat belt that also carries a 40,000-head Merino sheep flock.

The aggregation comprised John and Julie Nicoletti’s farming interests and other third-party options. The transaction closed on Thursday after receipt of non-objection approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

SALIC CEO, Matthew Jansen, said: “The acquisition of Baladjie is an important step for SALIC as we continue to build our global footprint in a meaningful way. It is our first acquisition in Australia as well as our first investment in sheep production.”

SALIC Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of SALIC, a Riyadh-based investment company 100 percent owned by sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). It aims to be a food security-focused agribusiness investment company.

William England, SALIC’s head of production agriculture investments, said that the local team will build on the legacy of John Nicoletti with plans to manage the livestock and grain production enterprise for the long term with a focus on sustainability, profitability, environmental responsibility and support for the local rural community.