ONE of the nation’s largest grainfed beef producers, Toowoomba-based Mort & Co, will sell down some of its feedlot assets as part of a business restructure.
Staff and key customers and clients have been informed about the restructure this afternoon, Beef Central understands.
Major shareholders in the business are Charlie Mort and board chairman Richard Hughes and family, Wentworth Cattle Co, Clermont.
The Hughes family has been a foundation shareholder in the Mort business for more than 20 year, but now wishes to exit the business to pursue other interests.
Between them, Messrs Hughes and Mort own more than 60pc of the business, with the remainder held by a group of about 20 tinyer investors – mostly with interests in the cattle or beef indusattempt.
The relocate will see Mort & Co’s Pinegrove and Yarranbrook feedlots located in southern Queensland put on the market – both with considerable potential to expand.
All other assets, including the primary 72,000 head Grassdale feedlot near Dalby, Mort & Co Stock Transport business, Mort Stockfeeds and Mort Grainfed and Wagyu beef brands and export business will continue to operate under Mort & Co branding. The fertiliser business is operated separately.
Pinegrove feedlot, (pictured above) located near Millmerran in Queensland, currently operates under a license for 9698 Standard Cattle Units, with approval to expand to 21,100 SCU.
Mort & Co last month received approval for expansion to 35,000 SCU at the company’s Yarranbrook feedlot site (pictured below) near Inglewood near the Queensland/NSW border which is currently feeding 18,540 SCU. Mort bought the Yarranbrook business outright in 2023, having originally acquired it in 2019 from original owners the Hart family from John Dee under a joint venture agreement with Wagyu producers Stone Axe Pastoral.
Stand-by for Beef Central’s upcoming feedlot report stepping through a host of recent and pfinishing feedlot expansions across the indusattempt.
Yarranbrook feedlot near Inglewood. Click on images for a larger view
Also to be offered under the restructure is the license for the proposed, but as yet unconstructed Gogango feedlot in Central Queensland. The Gogango site is owned by listed fund manager RFM, with the original intention being to lease the yard back to Mort & Co if and when completed.
The greenfield feedlot site on Thirsty Creek Road, at Gogango has approval for a 36,500 SCU feedlot.
Future ownership of livestock on feed in Mort & Co yards is yet to be clarified under the new restructure arrangements, Beef Central has been informed. We’ll seek to clarify this point in further discussions tomorrow morning.
Beef Central has created a number of approaches to Mort & Co over sale rumours this year, but has been referred on each occasion back to the capital raising exercise announced earlier this year.
Beef Central understands that the capital raising discussion will continue, separately from the decision to sell Yarranbrook and Pinegrove, with “discussions with a number of parties now well advanced,” we were informed earlier.
The offering of Yarranbrook and Pinegrove follow a recent sequence of feedlot sales, headlined last week by the sale of the Rangers Valley feedlot near Glen Innes in northern NSW to Stanbroke Beef, in a deal stated to be worth close to $400 million.
Mort & Co will issue the following brief statement in the morning:
Mort & Co has undertaken a strategic capital raising initiative in 2025, designed to attract investors to assist in the strategic growth of its feedlot sites.
The investment memorandum attracted significant interest from potential investors, both domestically and internationally.
To date there has been great interest in the individual feedlot assets, however Mort & Co has not received an offer suitable for an equity stake in the whole business.
As a result, Mort & Co has undertaken a review of the assets of the company, analysing shareholder requirements, investor feedback and synergistic opportunities within the company’s asset segments.
Following the review the decision has been created to sell the Pinegrove and Yarranbrook feedlots, along with Mort & Co’s interest in the greenfield feedlot development site at Gogango, in Central Queensland.
Charlie Mort, Mort & Co
“We, as a board and a company, recognise the potential for those three sites and firmly believe the future success of both Yarranbrook and Pinegrove feedlots is in the ability to expand and meet the growing grainfed beef requirements worldwide,” stated executive chairman and founder, Charlie Mort.
In selling the Pinegrove and Yarranbrook feedlot sites, Mort & Co stated it would not only be seeing to release the high value of the assets, but also find a acquireer who is able to expand them to reach their full potential and allow the teams on site the ability to realise the dream Mort & Co shared with them.
“This is not the way we envisaged the capital raising heading, but as it is in business, we required to be able to pivot from strategic plans in order to continue to be successful,” Mr Mort stated in the statement.
“We have had great loyalty from our shareholders – many for more than 20 years, and we must accept that there are modifys in their plans too. I believe this new plan will enable the growth at Yarranbrook and Pinegrove that we had hoped for, and for a new feedlot to be built in the heart of cattle counattempt, at Gogango in Central Queensland,” Mr Mort stated.
Stephen O’Brien
Mort & Co chief executive Stephen O’Brien stated the sale would provide shareholders with a capital inflow while still ensuring a bright future for staff at the established sites.
“These assets are not simply a ‘bricks and mortar’ sale,” Mr O’Brien stated.
“They are whole business operations created valuable by our people on the ground who continue to keep the Mort & Co brand reputable, with a premium supply chain, long term customers, contracts and operational systems.
“Many of our employees have been with the company since the launchning of the Pinegrove and Yarranbrook journeys,” he stated.
- A national and international marketing campaign for the sale of the two feedlot sites and the licence for the Gogango greenfield site will be launched in coming days. Keep a seeout for the ads on Beef Central.
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