Regional Livestock Exchanges CEO outlines transition of Leongatha Saleyards

REGIONAL Livestock Exchanges (RLX) CEO Brett Freer chatted to the Sentinel-Times at Thursday’s Store Sale, explaining what needs to happen before the business runs the January 5 ‘female sale’, Thursday’s sale being the last for the Victorian Livestock Exchange (VLE) after selling the Leongatha Saleyards to RLX.

He said there is a lot of work involved in the transfer, noting “We’re working hand in hand with the VLE to make that happen.”

That preparation includes transitioning VLE staff into RLX employment, along with getting backend systems working.

“The IT and systems side of things is what we need to make sure works seamlessly, so people get paid and people get invoiced,” Brett said.

He noted that apart from such essentials, there’ll be limited changes before the January 5 sale, given the Christmas holiday period is upon us.

“We’ve worked with staff over the last couple of days to offer as many people employment contracts as we possibly could; unfortunately, there are a few roles we’re still looking at whether we can incorporate,” Brett said, adding the majority of the VLE staff have been offered employment contracts.

He looks forward to seeing many of them in RLX uniforms early in the new year.

With VLE having formed extensive plans for improvements to Leongatha Saleyards, Brett spoke of how RLX will determine its priorities on that front.

“RLX has got a long history of investing in saleyards and we’ll look to work with the different stakeholders, be it transporters, agents, vendors, buyers, to identify the priority projects that are really going to make a difference to this particular site,” he said, explaining the business also needs to be mindful of making a return for its shareholders.

The Leongatha Saleyards purchase brings the total number of saleyards under RLX control to 11, with scale, geographical presence, and a great surrounding market factors that appeal to the business.

Brett described Thursday’s Store Sale as “a credit to the VLE,”, wishing the vendors and buyers a terrific last sale for the VLE and thanking them and the VLE for their support as he looks forward to RLX being part of the action in the new year.

While an agreement has been signed between VLE and RLX, there is still a little to take care of to finalise the sale.

“It’s just like buying a residential home; you sign the contract and there’s a certain period of time to get all the novations and the transfers done , and you’ve got to go through government agencies and local councils to get permits transferred,” Brett said, elaborating that he hoped all that would be finalised within the next couple of days.

RLX has a centralised management process, with North and South regions.

“The VLE will roll in under our Southern Region management, which is headed up by Tim Keys who is based in Wodonga,” Brett said, noting Tim will pay regular visits to the Leongatha site where there will also be a site manager.