SYDNEY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Australia has blocked the sale of the country's largest landowner, private farming group S. Kidman and Co, to any foreign investor, saying the proposed sale would be contrary to the national interest.
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison said he had blocked the sale on the advice of the Foreign Investment Review Board because of the size of the company's landownings and the ownership of a pastoral lease within a sensitive weapons testing range in South Australia.
S. Kidman owns more than 100,000 sq km of land across 10 cattle stations, with an average herd of 185,000 cattle.