Sydney fund manager Allan Fife snaps up Tassie trophy farm
Mr Fife, founder of Fife Capital, has emerged as the buyer of Stonehenge, a 170-year-old sheep farm north of Hobart, home to a magnificent sandstone mansion. Sydney fund manager Allan Fife and his son Ben, founder of Fife Capital, have purchased the Tassie trophy farm, Stonehenge, for $25 million. The exact price paid for the farm has not been disclosed, but it had come to market in March with price expectations of around $25m. The acquisition follows the purchase by Fife by one of New Zealand’s most powerful farming families, the Spencers, paying over $100 million in November for another historic Tasmanian farm, Vaucluse, south of Launceston. Fife AMI is a big player in the industrial property market, teaming up with heavyweights such as Blackstone, which sold its 90 per cent stake in the Fife industrial and logistics portfolio for about $850 million in 2021.
Pubblicato : 2 anni fa di Larry Schlesinger in Finance
Company records show the directors of the Fife entity are Fife Capital founder Allan Fife and his son Ben, who leads the property investment and management activities at the firm.
Allan Fife declined to comment on the purchase of Stonehenge, while Ms McShane told The Australian Financial Review to “mind its own business” when it contacted the family for a comment.
“It’s a private sale and has nothing to do with you,” she said.
While the exact price paid for Stonehenge has not been disclosed, it had come to market in March with price expectations of around $25 million through Adrian Fisher of Nutrien Harcourts Tasmania.
“The owners have done a wonderful job of maintaining the home. It is absolutely pristine. It is as sound as the day it was built, and has not moved one millimetre,” Mr Fisher said when Stonehenge hit the market.
Back in 2005, it was reported that Marcus McShane, a director of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, and his brother Eliot ran 20,000 merino shep at Stonehenge. At the time it was one of Tasmania’s biggest sheep properties.
While Mr Fife’s plans for Stonehenge are unclear, company records show one of the directors of Fife AMI is Tasmanian-born Murray Rutherford, CEO of meat industry super fund AMIST Super.
AMIST Super has about $2.6 billion of assets under management of which over 9 per cent are held by Fife Capital Management, according to the super fund’s 2022 Annual Report.
While yet to make its mark in agricultural real estate, Fife Capital is a big player in the industrial property market, teaming up with heavyweights such as Blackstone (which sold its 90 per cent stake in the Fife industrial and logistics portfolio for about $850 million in 2021).
The acquisition of Stonehenge by Mr Fife follows one of New Zealand’s most powerful farming families, the Spencers, paying over $100 million in November for another historic Tasmanian farm, Vaucluse, south of Launceston,
Another Tassie rural gem, the near-200-year-old Woodlands estate at the top of North Bruny, was purchased for about $6.6 million in April by Kathmandu founder and former Rich Lister Jan Cameron
Temi: Markets, Australia