Nutella maker shelves Australian hazelnut farm, lists site
Ferrero Group has listed adjoining Riverina farms five years after planting some million hazelnut trees – worth $70m – over part of it.
In a surprise move, the Italy based group behind Nutella will abandon the operation, raze the shrubs and offer the 2665.71 hectare Narrandera amalgamation as a vacant agricultural asset.
With 11,361 megalitres of water entitlements, offices, sheds, residential accommodation and significant infrastructure, it can expect more than $80 million.
Ferrero acquired the properties, ex-potato farms, Dellapool and Arrambee, in 2013 from the Menegazzo family, of grain growing and cattle fame.
Back to importing
Purchased as an import replacement opportunity, it was hoped the Narrandera property could yield some 5000 tonnes of kernel hazelnuts a year.
Not native here, some c3500 tonnes were being imported just before COVID, according to Hazelnut Growers Australia, with local demand rising nearly two thirds between 1992-2015.
Turkey is responsible for about 70 per cent of the world’s supply. Spain and the United States are also large producers.
“This is a unique opportunity in an attractive agricultural region that is appealing to corporate and institutional investors – particularly for large scale development assets with extensive river frontage and significant water entitlements,” CBRE’s John Harrison, who is representing Ferrero Group’s Waratah Land Pty Ltd with James Auty and Matt Childs (story continues below).
About 1950ha is suitable for permanent plantings, he added.
Next chapter for landmark aggregation
The properties are at Sandigo, about 15 kilometres south east of central Narrandera.
“The Dellapool aggregation has been extensively developed with state of the art irrigation infrastructure, enabling flexibility in the potential production of various permanent horticulture plantings,” Mr Harrison said.
“There is significant irrigation and filtration infrastructure with a large on-farm water storage dam of circa 500ML,” he added.
Headquartered in Alba and trading in over 170 countries, Ferrero is behind some 35 brands including, as well as Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Surprise and Tic Tacs.
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