Mr Keldoulis’ donations to the teals outstripped those made by Atlassian billionaires Scott Farquhar ($1.5 million) and Mike Cannon-Brookes ($1.18 million).
“I’m hooked,” Mr Keldoulis told the Sydney Morning Herald in November, regarding his support of Climate 200 and the teals. ”We’ll be supporters for a long time.”
He could not be reached for comment on the investment.
Mr Keldoulis initially made his money with international trading giant Optiver, where he was the Australian managing director, before starting Vivienne Court Trading in 2010.
Rob Keldoulis donated more to the teals than the Atlassian billionaires.
The company, which prefers handshake agreements to employment contracts and has a no-yelling rule in its office, donates all its profits to charity.
Medicinal cannabis, legalised in Australia in 2016 and heavily regulated, is used to treat medical conditions including chronic pain and the side-effects of chemotherapy.
The Tasmanian farm on Green Rises Road in Cressy that Mr Keldoulis has bought was sold as a fully operational cannabis production enterprise by ECS, which has reported losses in the last two financial years.
David Goodfellow and Matt Childs of CBRE handled the sale.
Situated 30km south of Launceston in the Northern Midlands Region of Tasmania, the marijuana farm is certified organic and is licensed to produce 2.5 tonnes of medicinal cannabis a year.
In the mainstream horticulture space, Mornington Peninsula wine producer Circe has emerged as the buyer of Accolade’s Stonier Wines, whose sale The Australian Financial Review reported this month.
It is understood Circe, owned by the Drummond, McLeod and Thickins families, paid more than $10 million for Stonier, which included 26 hectares of premium vineyards, grower partnerships, a winery and cellar door at Merricks.
Nick Butler from Savills brokered the sale.
“When my partners at Circe and I heard that Stonier was for sale we were very keen given the quality of the wine, the exceptional vineyards and our shared vision of taking the best of Mornington Peninsula wine to the rest of the world.” said Circe co-owner Aaron Drummond.
Accolade Wines chief supply chain officer Derek Nicol said while Stonier had a “well-deserved reputation for producing premium wine” it was not a brand the country’s second-biggest winemaker could “scale at this time”.