Cecil Peak Station stays with offshore owners after $45m offer falls short

- Kiwi rich listers' offers for Cecil Peak fell short of the $60 million asking price.

- The 13,400ha station drew interest from New Zealand and overseas, including plans for a golf course.

- Cecil Peak remains with its Singaporean owners, who may relist it in the future.

Kiwi rich listers were keen on buying an iconic South Island high country station, but the tens of millions of dollars they offered failed to hit the mark, so Cecil Peak stays with its Singaporean owners for now.

The 13,400ha sheep and cattle station also drew interest from overseas buyers, including Americans who wanted to add a top-notch international golf course, said Bayleys listing agent John Greenwood.

Cecil Peak has been owned by a “major, major” offshore property company for the last 30 years. It listed the station on Lake Wakatipu, in Queenstown-Lakes, at the start of October, with a guide price of $60 million. However, none of the offers received came close, so it pulled the listing two months later.

Listing agent John Greenwood thought the station’s stone houses can be turned into tourist ventures. Photo / Supplied

The property can only be accessed by boat or helicopter. Photo / Supplied

While Greenwood described one offer as “silly” at $15m, he said the rest were strong, between $35m and $45m.

“There were four New Zealand offers and three offshore offers. However, the vendors' expectations were higher than this, and they have chosen to withdraw Cecil Peak from the market for now,” he said, noting that all the interested parties were disappointed they had missed out.

One of the New Zealand offers was from a large tourism operation, while another was from a private individual who wanted to own an iconic property.

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“The other two were really high-net-worth buyers who, if they could secure it, would decide what they would do with it then.”

One of the offshore buyers was an American group looking to build an international golf course on the property. “Around the world, they have these unique golf courses, very special, remote, very different in their format. That was a serious player," Greenwood said.

Another offshore offer came from a Californian buyer. "They were looking to own something in New Zealand for their family.”

Cecil Peak's owners had bought the station as a long-term investment, said Greenwood, adding that they may bring it back to market.

The iconic station is home to 300-500 cattle and 5000 sheep. Photo / Supplied

He noted that high-net-worth individuals liked the sales process, which invited interested buyers to fill out a form with their desired price and any conditions they might have. “It’s a non-binding document," said Greenwood, and was used as a starting point for negotiations.

OneRoof reported in October that Cecil Peak attracted thousands of visitors in its tourism heyday, with tourists taking the picturesque trip across the lake from Queenstown.

Tourism stopped in the 1960s, however, with neighbouring Walter Peak now the lake’s main attraction.

The property, which consists predominantly of Crown leasehold land and is home to 5000 sheep and 500 cattle, has an RV of $33m, but Greenwood told OneRoof in October that it was worth double that.

The potential to add value to the property was enormous. "The right owner could re-launch Cecil Peak in almost any tourism market,” Greenwood said, pointing to the success of the Ayrburn hospitality precinct near Arrowtown, which turned the original stone buildings into crowd-grabbing restaurants and pubs.

Mount Algidus Station, at Lake Coleridge, in Selwyn, is still on the market, Photo / Supplied

The Southern Farm Collection of Lone Star Farms, in Otago, is one of the biggest land offerings on the open market in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

The attraction to VIP clients was that the station could only be accessed by boat or helicopter. It already has several building platforms, all by the water.

Cecil Peak isn’t the only large landholding to hit the market in recent months.

In Canterbury, one of New Zealand’s finest high-country estates, Mount Algidus Station, is up for grabs.

The 22,120ha property has a rich history that dates back to 1861.

The listing includes a 25-bedroom manor and has a price tag of $50m-plus. The property was once home to William Rolleston, a prominent 19th-century politician, and later to author Mona Anderson, whose memoir A River Rules My Life immortalised the station’s rugged beauty and rhythms of high-country life.

Further south, New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Russell Reddell is selling the Southern Farm Collection of Lone Star Farms, which comprises 14,600 hectares, three integrated stations and 58 freehold titles.

The Otago stations make up one of the largest sheep and cattle operations in the country and are valued at around $140 million.

Reddell told OneRoof in June that the properties had attracted good buyer interest from New Zealand and overseas. “The scale and the price point of this rule out about 99% of people in general,” he said.

- Click here to find more properties for sale in Queenstown-Lakes