North Bourke Abattoir for sale
PHOTO TWH
The North Bourke abattoir is up for sale.
The business has been advertised as a ‘state-of-the-art small stock abattoir’ and is being offered for sale under instructions from CAPRA Developments, CBRE Agribusiness and LAWD.
Construction was completed by the owner – Capra Holdings in February last year and hopes were high it would provide employment for several hundred locals.
The Federal government provided a $10 million grant to assist with construction of the abattoir and to supply some infrastructure.
Capra Holdings director George Tanos is confident the abattoir will survive and thrive if other investors can be found.
“We’re just looking for other investors to assist us in opening it up,” Mr Tanos said.
“We have staff on site, but we are not processin. We’ll remain on site while this process continues and that will draw other investors in that we’ll join with to get it up and running bigger and better and we’re very confident that will happen.
“The drought was the biggest factor that impacted operations, it impacted on everybody and went on far too long, as well as the fires and then COVID-19, so we’re just sitting tight and looking at doing the best we can.
“We’re putting expressions of interest out there to see what other partners we can join forces with,” he said.
An agent managing the sale Col Medway of LAWD, said the facility closed because the proponents ran out of capital to operate it when the goat price went from $4 to $10 and a lot of capital was required to fund that increase.
“The value of the end price was good, but working capital went beyond what they were able to provide.
Mr Medway said the abattoir is an ‘outstanding opportunity.
“It is an A class facility with no cost spared in its construction and fit-out,” he said.
“We think there is a range of potential buyers – current participants who recognise the quality of the facility and the fact that they do not have to fund construction costs.
“It’s in the heart of the most densely populated goat area on the east coast of Australia. It is widely accepted that the rangeland goat population has potential to double every six years if it is not impacted by humans, so the goat population can recover quite quickly when seasonal conditions allow,” Mr Medway said.
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