Australia

Warakirri says it is already managing discrete agricultural investments for super funds, but this new fund is being set up in response to demand from private family offices, high-net-worth and not-for-profit community

The BFB sale has raised concerns that even if local bidders are able to raise the cash required for these deals, they’re not able to compete with the vast resources and track records of international players.

A group of Riverina farmers is demanding answers from the federal government over the sale of BFB, a large diversified agribusiness in Temora, which is being sold by a US private equity investor to a Canadian pension fund.

Farm and asset management company Gunn Agri announced it has finalized the acquisition of Abingdon Downs, a 484,000-hectare breeding property in Queensland, Australia from the Keough Cattle Company, for an undisclosed sum.

ANZ Banking Group violated its own policies and international human rights standards by providing 40 million $ loan to a Cambodian sugar company that seized land from local farmers, according to a statement released by Australian government body that monitors corporate behavior overs.

Under a proposal from Australia's federal government the 15 per cent concessional rate of withholding tax for foreign investors in agricultural land will be lifted to 30 per cent by July 1 next year.

Qatar's Hassad Foods continues the strategic repositioning of its Australian agricultural investments, securing an agreement to transfer its agricultural portfolio to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

The intensifying US-China trade war, plus our comparatively cheap agricultural land are among key reasons overseas investor groups have ramped up buying interest in rural Australia this year.

The university’s holdings in developing markets have proved to be more trouble than they’re worth.

The Australian farming business BFB Pty Ltd, with its portfolio of 28 farms covering 48,753 ha, will be pitched to Australian superannuation funds and offshore sovereign wealth investors.

One Tree Agriculture is owned by private equity fund manager, Proterra Investment Partners, which was spun off in 2016 as an investment advisory and private equity fund manager by Cargill’s Black River Asset Management.

The UK remains the largest foreign owner of Australian farmland, followed by China and the US, according to the Foreign Investment Review Board 2016–17 Annual Report.