TINY listed public company Australian Rural Capital has been outed as part of the Shanghai Pengxin Group bid for Adelaide-based cattle company S. Kidman and Co.
ARC said it was working exclusively with a member of the Shanhai Pengxin Group and its advisers in relation to the proposed acquisition of Kidman. 
Its investors include executive chairman James Jackson, who owns nearly 20 per cent of its capital and is also the deputy chairman of Elders, and merchant banker Stephen Chapman.
ARC's involvement as a partner of Shanghai follows the federal Treasurer's rejection of previous overseas bids for the Kidman business last   November.
"If completed, the proposed transaction would result in ARC holding a direct ownership stake in Kidman as a partner to the Shanghai Pengxin Group member," ARC told the ASX yesterday.
Shanghai has been listed as a frontrunner in the battle to buy the cattle company along with Genius Link Asset Management based in Hong Kong.
ARC said it planned to raise funds to give Australian investors an opportunity to invest in Kidman through a fund or an investment company. It is seeking to raise up to $100 million in an unlisted fund which would then be listed on the ASX.
It said Shanghai's application to the Foreign Investment Review Board included the proposed ownership and role of ARC in the proposed transaction.
A recommendation by the FIRB and approval by the federal Treasurer are required for the proposed transaction to proceed.
S. Kidman and Co runs about 160,000 cattle on pastoral leasehold country covering 101,000sq km in South Australia, Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory.ARC is an investor and manager of funds invested in agribusiness and agricultural infrastructure assets including a 10 per cent stake in the Namoi Cotton Co-operative.