Australia

Private-equity giant KKR nears $70 million deal for some of the endowment’s farm holdings, including 8,500 acres of dairy farms on the South Island of New Zealand

Legendary waterfront warrior Chris Corrigan could soon have one of the world’s top investors — Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board — as the main shareholder in his Australian listed agricultural company, Webster Limited.

Chinese investors ramped up their investment in Australian agriculture last year, spending $1.2bn on farms and agribusinesses, a new report from KMPG and the University of Sydney has revealed.

Investment in Australia’s agricultural land has soared to $4.6 billion, with the bulk of that coming from the US.

One of Canada’s biggest pension funds has teamed up with management of Australia’s largest pecan grower and processor, Stahmann Farms Enterprises.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which has bought up 21 local dairy farms as part of its push into rural land investment, is looking outside the dairy sector for its next foray, eyeing land used for beef and permanent crops and expansion into Australia.

China’s investment in Australian agribusiness has tripled in just a year as China strives to meet rising demand for high-quality food among its growing middle class. Major agribusiness deals included acquisition of the S Kidman & Co cattle empire and acquisition of Tasmanian dairy giant Van Dieman’s Land.

A coalition of environmental, human rights and family farm organizations delivered a letter with over 100,000 signatures to pension fund management company TIAA, expressing concerns over the company’s investments in farmland and palm oil.

Protesters paid a visit to TIAA’s New York headquarters Thursday, urging the firm to stop investing in farmland and companies with ties to palm oil.

The ramifications of the land grab seven years ago, and the role of ANZ in financing the Phnom Penh Sugar (PPS) refinery, are still being felt today. Representative of victims are traveling to Melbourne to lobby ANZ's institutional investors for investigating their complaint against ANZ.

Chinese investment in Australian agriculture is usually a magnet for controversy, but one Chinese company has remained immune from criticism, with plans to invest $1 billion by the end of the decade.

Now and into 2017 agribusiness is being promoted as the next big thing, with increasing market activity, resulting in land and asset values accelerating at a greater rate towards a peak as local and international demand increases.