Queensland investment corporation inks deal to buy 80 percent stake in Australia's oldest agricultural enterprise

The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) owned by Australia's Queensland state government will acquire 80 percent stake of one of Australia's oldest and largest agricultural enterprises, the state government announced on Friday.

Queensland state treasurer Curtis Pitt said in a statement on Friday that the investment in North Australian Pastoral Company would help develop northern Australia.

"Agriculture is a critical part of the Queensland economy and there's the potential for it to grow significantly to meet rising Asian demand," Pitt said.

"An investor like QIC always looks decades ahead, not months, and can see that Queensland is perfectly positioned to produce the clean, healthy food the new Asian middle class will demand."

QIC chief executive Damien Frawley said the company was very proud to lead investment in Australian agriculture and to be investing Australian superannuation assets into the beef industry.

"This landmark deal was made possible by our unique government heritage, and it captures the benefit of our networks of institutional investors and connections to Asian corporate relationships," Frawley said.

"It's a natural evolution for our 25 year-old investment platform."

The deal was not required to go before the Foreign Investment Review Board because of the small level of direct foreign investment.

North Australian Pastoral Company is one of Australia's oldest and largest agricultural enterprises.

It covers 5.8 million hectares of land across Queensland state and the Northern Territory, and has approximately 178,000 heads of cattle.