Mackays, the largest banana grower in Australia, is reportedly selling its entire farming operations, with the business valued at approximately A$180m ($116.2m) according to The Australian Financial Review.
The decision to sell comes as the owning family’s interests diverged too much to effectively manage the operation themselves.
The company’s nine farms, covering a total of 5,861 hectares across the Tully and Lakeland regions of Queensland, account for around 13% of the national banana crop.
Mackays, a family-owned company, currently employs over 500 people and generates annual revenues of A$75m. In addition to bananas, the company has expanded its operations to include avocados, papaya, coffee, lychees, cacao, and beef production.
“We transport an impressive 45,000 to 50,000 15kg cartons of bananas to supermarkets every week, highlighting the scale of our business,” stated Alex Hutton, CEO of Mackay Farming Group, in an interview with AFR.
The sale of the business will be handled by JLL Agribusiness. Chris Holgar, Senior Director at JLL, praised the Mackay family’s success in building Australia’s largest banana producer and highlighted their strong reputation in the horticulture industry in Far North Queensland.
In fiscal 2021, Australian banana growers sold nearly A$600m worth of bananas, totaling 362,000 tonnes. It is projected that by 2026, this figure will increase to 417,000 tonnes, according to reports.
Hutton emphasized Mackays’ commitment to sustainable farming practices, stating, “We are currently auditing our farms to ensure our carbon sequestration strategies yield optimal results.”
In Tully, the company has developed freezing operations to efficiently process surplus banana production into packed frozen bananas.
Last year, Mackays sold a 514.4-hectare former sugarcane property near Bundaberg for over A$9m to macadamia entrepreneur Dyson Bogg.
