CATTLE giant S. Kidman & Co's auction must have the Foreign Investment Review Board working overtime.
The Australian Financial Review understands that there are three groups preparing separate offers for a stake in one of Australia's largest landholders in time for the October 27 binding bids deadline.
And each group is backed or linked to Chinese buyers.
The first group is believed to be Rifa Australia, headed by former Elders general manager David Goodfellow, and owned by China's Zhejiang RIFA Holding Group. The Rifa Group is well known in the textiles industry but has expanded into meat processing and farming, including interests in China and more recently Australia.
The second is understood to be Ningbo Xianfeng - best known in Australia for chasing blind and curtains maker Kresta Holdings in a takeover stoush last year. Ningbo Xianfeng is another Chinese conglomerate with an industrials background now seeking a strong foothold in Australian beef and cattle, sources said.
And the third, as previously reported by The Australian Financial Review, is Guangzhou-based vegetable oil producer Donlinks Grain and Oil Company. Donlinks outed itself as an interested party in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, saying it would partner with Virgin Islands-registered Genius Link Capital.
It's understood Kidman's board will meet on November 2 to consider the likely offers.
Sources said bidders had a busy fortnight finalising bids and were still working through Kidman's dataroom to try and get a solid understanding of its sustainable earnings.
It's understood Kidman has taken advantage of strong cattle prices to sell down its herd, which has propped up earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation but also stripped cash out of the business.
Ernst & Young is running the auction. Bids are expected at around $350 million to $400 million.