Happy WVLX customer Grenville Burger at the Mortlake complex.

GLOBAL infrastructure and real assets manager Palisade Investment Partners has acquired the South Eastern Livestock Exchange at Yass in New South Wales, and the Western Victoria Livestock Exchange at Mortlake in Victoria through its subsidiary Regional Livestock Exchanges.

In media statement, Palisade said the addition of SELX and WVLX to the RLX portfolio provided numerous benefits to existing operations, including greater levels of geographical diversity and operational efficiencies across the portfolio.

Palisade said as a longstanding investor in Australian regional infrastructure, it manages and operates a geographically diverse portfolio of eight livestock saleyards located across the eastern seaboard of Australia through the RLX portfolio.

SELX is located outside of Yass in the southern tablelands of NSW, 60km north-west of Canberra, and has been operating since August 2016. Its surrounding geography contains some of NSW’s premier cattle and sheep producing regions. WVLX is located at Mortlake in south-western Victoria and is strategically located in the centre of the Western District of Victoria’s cattle producing population, with livestock sales commencing at the site in January of 2018.

Sheep at the SELX yards at Yass, NSW.

Regional Livestock Exchanges’ websites says it focuses on developing regionally significant modern livestock facilities within strategic locations, chosen for stock numbers, transport efficiency and long-term sustainability.

RLX sites before the recent acquisitions included Central Queensland Livestock Exchange (CQLX) at Gracemere QLD, Inverell Regional Livestock Exchange (IRLX) at Inverell NSW, Hunter Regional Livestock Exchange (HRLX) at Singleton NSW, Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange (TRLX) at Tamworth NSW, Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange (CTLX) at Carcoar NSW, Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange (NVLX) at Barnawartha VIC, Central Victorian Livestock Exchange (CVLX) at Ballarat VIC and Corangamite Regional Livestock Exchange (CRLX) at Camperdown VIC.

Palisade chief executive officer Roger Lloyd said the assets manager is delighted to secure the two high-quality regional infrastructure assets, while continuing to invest in regional Australia and support the communities in which the assets operate.

“The enhanced geographical diversity across the portfolio due to this most recent acquisition, leads to improved risk adjusted returns for our clients.”

RLX CEO Brett Freer said both SELX and WVLX are highly complementary to the existing RLX portfolio.

“The acquisition provides RLX with the opportunity to optimise the performance of both SELX and WVLX, as well as the existing RLX portfolio through operational synergies and economies of scale.”

The acquisitions are being made on behalf of investors in Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF) and Palisade managed investors in RLX. PDIF has provided investors with a total gross return of 13 percent per annum, including 7.7pc of gross income, over the 10 years to 31 December 2022.

Senior debt financing was provided by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group through RLX’s existing portfolio financing arrangements. Transaction completion is expected to occur in the coming weeks.

Kidder Williams acted as financial adviser, King and Wood Mallesons as legal advisor and Clayton Utz as tax advisor to Palisade.