Terra Firma's $1 billion CPC cattle kingdom offering

The $1 billion offering of one of Australia’s biggest agricultural empires, with 16 northern cattle stations, has begun.

The vast offering, which includes a herd of 400,000 cattle, is the Consolidated Pastoral Company empire.

The CPC cattle kingdom, once owned by the Packer media family, has been owned for the past nine years by Britain-based Terra Firma private equity group.

Around $1 billion is being sought for the stations that cover 5.5 million hectares in prized cattle country in the WA Kimberley, Northern Territory and Queensland.

Frenetic action around sale is being compared to the $386 million disposal of the much bigger, but less valuable, Kidman cattle and land empire two years ago.

But CPC chief executive Troy Setter told The Australian there was already keen interest from Australian bidders for the properties, which include Newcastle Waters in the NT

Ads, which are part of FIRB compliance, have been placed by Goldman Sachs which will oversee the sale, which is expected to take more than six months.