Shanghai | The Chinese buyer behind the $371 million offer for iconic cattle company S. Kidman & Co has compared Australia's political scene to the popular American television series House of Cards. 
Hong Tao, chief investment officer of Pengxin Group, told a conference in Shanghai last week the Australian government had changed five times in the past five years and "there is lots of in-fighting" within political parties.
"It's exactly the same as what we saw in the House of Cards," he said, according to a transcript of the China Investment Annual Conference available on its website.
His comments came ahead of Tuesday's announcement that Kidman reached a sale agreement with Pengxin-backed Dakang Australia Holdings and its partner, ASX-listed Australian Rural Capital, pending regulatory approvals.
Mr Hong, who also goes by the English name Henry, has been integral to the deal, and is listed in the bidding documents as the contact person for Hunan Dakang Pasture Farming, which together with Chinese real estate developer Shanghai CRED, owns Dakang Australia.
Pengxin, in turn, owns 55 per cent of Hunan Dakang, which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
"Last year this deal [to buy Kidman] was knocked back by the Australian government for national interest reasons," Mr Hong told investors at the conference. "In overseas acquisitions not only state-owned enterprises meet with obstacles, China's private enterprises also encounter difficulties.
"We need to be familiar with policies in different countries and handle government relations well," he said.
Mr Hong said a deal like the Kidman purchase could only be found overseas. "It is unimaginable in China that you could own over 100,000 square kilometres of land."
The potential Kidman sale is once again under the scrutiny of Treasurer Scott Morrison, who blocked it last   November.
However, this time it doesn't include the property Anna Creek, which is near the weapons testing site at Woomera in South Australia, and was cited by Mr Morrison as a concern.
Australia is only one part of Pengxin's ambition to be a global resources and agricultural player. The group also owns dairy farms in New Zealand, a gold mine in South Africa and has an investment in a Brazilian agricultural company.
Pengxin's chairman and founder, Jiang Zhaobai, ranks 157 on China's rich list with a fortune worth roughly $2 billion.