Four olive farms put up for sale by receivers with $20 million price tag

Four WA olive farms have been put up for sales by receivers KordaMentha.

The olive farms in Preston Valley, Avon Valley, Twin Brooks and Dandaragan belong to one of Australia’s biggest olive companies Kailis Organic Olive Groves, which has its headquarters in Osborne Park in Perth.

The company collapsed in November 2011 after being unable to repay debts of $18 million, with $15 million owed to Westpac.

Combined the four properties feature 1,800 hectares of olive plantations with an average age of 6.5 years and include modern processing facilities and over 10 gigs of water licences with a value of around $20 million, excluding the operating business.

The properties are available to be purchased separately.

The biggest property is Twin Brooks in Gingin measuring 1,606 hectares with 449 hectares planted to olives.

Avon Valley in Beverley measures 1,368 hectares over 20 titles, with 785 hectares of olive groves.

Preston Valley in Donnybrook measures 447 hectares and has 236 hectares of olive groves.

Dandaragan measures 498 hectares and has 388 hectares of olive groves.

All four properties are being sold by Elders Real Estate via expressions of interest campaigns.

Mark Mentha, partner at KordaMentha, says there is strong interest in the farms from local syndicates of high-net-worth individual, super funds and Asian investors.

Olive oil producers in Australia have struggled to compete against cheaper imports from countries like Spain and Italy following the strengthening of the Australian dollar.