Heartland Group is continuing its expansion in Australia through the acquisition of specialist finance businesses, with its latest move the purchase of livestock financier StockCo Holdings.

Heartland announced that it has signed a conditional agreement for the acquisition of StockCo Holdings 2 Pty Ltd from its joint owners, StockCo Australia and Elders Rural Service Australia.

StockCo Holdings 2 has A$341 million of assets. Heartland will pay $143 million plus a top-up of $11 million if performance targets are met.

Elders will remain involved as a distribution partner and has signed a five-year agreement that will commence on completion of the sale.

Heartland said it plans to fund the acquisition through a new debt facility provided by “a major Australian financial institution”.

Heartland has a rural finance business in New Zealand and will draw on that expertise to develop the local business.

Heartland’s biggest business in Australia is its reverse mortgage operation. It got into the market in 2014, when it acquired Australian Seniors Finance.

Since then, it has established a dominant presence in that market and achieved strong growth, despite weak overall market conditions. Its reverse mortgage book is worth $1.2 billion.