The Commins Portfolio in the Murrumbidgee Valley has sold to Jacky Cheung for around $88M. Photo: LAWD

MAKING news in the New South Wales property market is the sale of East Cooltah and Karnang to a local Macquarie Valley family, and the naming of the expansive Commins Portfolio’s buyer.

Commins Portfolio

Chinese-born Sydney-based Jacky Cheung is the private investor who paid around $88 million for a southern NSW institutional-grade irrigated opportunity underpinned by substantial water entitlements.

The Commins Portfolio is located on the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River, 3km south of Whitton and 17km east of Darlington Point.

It was offered for sale in February and sold in June after attracting strong interest from multiple corporate and institutional groups due to its scale, land-class development and water security within a highly productive region.

Spanning 2807ha across four non-contiguous hubs within an 18km radius, the Commins Portfolio consists of the 1097ha Karwar, 1253ha Whitton Hub, 183ha The Weir and 274ha Nardoo.

While cotton is the most lucrative crop, the properties also grow corn, wheat, barley, and seed canola in rotation, with the productive soil types also suited to permanent plantings.

Described as first-class, the irrigation development on the Commins Portfolio includes 2244ha, or 80 percent, of laser-levelled bankless channels, supported by 1860ML of combined on-farm water storage.

The 14,112ML of water entitlements comprise 9700ML of surface water and 4412ML of ground water, which underpin the operation.

Infrastructure includes numerous residences, significant shedding, a silo complex and more than 4200t of grain storage.

East Cooltah and Karnang

A local farming family has paid around $20M for Peter Grech and Michelle Azzopardi’s prime Macquarie River dryland cropping and irrigation country.

The 1148ha East Cooltah and Karnang are located 25km from Dubbo, in the highly regarded Macquarie Valley region of central western NSW.

LAWD agent Ian Robertson said the sale included 350ML of Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated River water and 998ML of Upper Macquarie Alluvial groundwater entitlements, as well as 680ha of wheat.

East Cooltah and Karnang are established cotton-growing properties in the Macquarie Valley, and are in new local hands. Photo: LAWD

The holding comprises the adjoining 461ha East Cooltah and the 686ha Karnang, which are close to cotton gins near Gin Gin and Trangie, and commodity-receival centres near Narromine and Dubbo.

Productive soil types consist of red brown earths and chernozems that grow cotton, winter cereals, and canola.

According to the vendors, recent soil tests under the pivots indicate Colwell P levels measuring immediately available phosphorous of up to 190.

The irrigation development is described as first class, and includes 250ha of pivot spray irrigation and 220ha of lasered flood irrigation, supported by 800ML of on-farm water storage.

East Cooltah and Karnang are linked via a storage reservoir and have independent bores and river pump sites.

An integrated system allows water to be pumped from bores, river and on-farm storage.

Infrastructure includes a fully renovated five-bedroom home, machinery shedding, pumping infrastructure, workshops and an office.

Grain Central: Get our free news straight to your inbox – Click here