Canada's public worker pension fund manager PSP Investments has made a significant stride in Australia's agricultural sector by acquiring a majority stake in Ellerslie Free Range Farms, a leading egg producer, for $180 million.
The world’s largest manager of farmland assets, Nuveen Natural Capital, has taken advantage of Treasury Wine Estates’ decision to downsize its commercial wine business after acquiring water rights and 434 ha of its orchards.
Joe Lewis, the main shareholder of Australian Agriculture, a company that owns about 1 per cent of the Australia’s land mass, has pleaded guilty in a US court to insider trading.
- IN Queensland
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29 January 2024
The largest grain growing operation in Western Australia is expected to fetch close to $200 million after its owners, the Saudi Arabian government and a Perth-headquartered agricultural fund decided to sell.
The Costa family has joined other wealthy families and an institutional investor in piling into a $120 million equity raising to fund the acquisition and development of three irrigation properties.
- Commercial Real Estate
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17 December 2023
Some of Western Australia's most sought-after cattle country is set to move from Chinese to Canadian ownership in a newly struck deal.
Bloomberg exposé on Frank Timis' plan to turn Les Fermes de la Teranga (ex-Senhuile) into a major source of animal feed for the Gulf States and the implications for Dakar's water supply
- Bloomberg
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14 November 2023
Surexport has just announced its completion of three acquisitions: Portuguese raspberry producer Solana; Moroccan blueberry producer AG Group; and Spanish producer of organic berries Flor De Doñana.
The founder of debt ladden Chinese property developer Shimao Group Holdings has put a Western Australia cattle station portfolio almost as big as Belgium on the market with an asking price of about $250 million.
Over the last three years, Australia’s agriculture and farmland have been in high demand for institutional investors in Canada searching for diversification and sustainability.
- Asian Investor
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15 October 2023
Pastoral Partners Australia, a carbon farming and sustainable grazing fund owned by New Zealand infrastructure investor Morrison & Co, has lifted the size of its portfolio to over 100,000 hectares.
More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for the cost of “land preparation” and other fees.
- CamboJa News
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27 September 2023
The board of Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable company, Costa Group, has agreed to a cut-price $1.5 billion takeover offer from a consortium headed by private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners.
Financial players are moving aggressively to snatch up lands around the world with access to water for irrigation. Their strategy is to pump as much water as they can and as fast as they can into the production of crops that reap high prices in export markets.
New report by the Oakland Institute examines the African Forestry Impact Platform bankrolled by European development finance institutions, Japanese oil interests, and an Australian investment firm.
- Oakland Institute
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30 August 2023
Through Macquarie Asset Management, PFJC will invest in farmland with various crops, such as wheat, beans, cotton and avocados on farmlands spread across eastern and western Australia.
- Asian Investor
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14 August 2023
Institutional investors, large corporates and big family operators are expected to dominate demand for prime farmland this financial year as smaller farmers’ buying power takes a hit from higher interest rates, lower profits.
The Warakirri Diversified Agriculture Fund’s portfolio includes high-quality berry, citrus and soft-leaf vegetables, agri-infrastructure, and vineyard assets across five states.
Canada’s CDPQ has invested in two, large farm operations in Australia through its new A$200m sustainable agricultural platform with Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Canadian company pursuing a carbon offset project in Sierra Leone says it is committed to equitable revenue sharing arrangements with local smallholders and a transparent consent process monitored by the NGO Namati.
- Armchair Trader
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16 June 2023
Leading Australian real estate firm LAWD has partnered with fractionalization platform Bricklet to enable buyers to invest in Australian agriculture without the capital requirements associated with acquiring a property in its entirety.
Kilter Rural launches a $333.7 mln agriculture fund that will buy and develop 21,000 hectares of farmland in Southeastern Australia, creating biodiversity and carbon credits in the process.
In the latest deal, private equity-backed Stone Axe Pastoral has acquired the Moyhu Wagyu aggregation in Victoria’s King Valley from tax reform pioneer Bob Officer for about $25 million.
Kilter Rural was recently awarded a US$50m mandate from a large US financial institution to invest in Australian agriculture.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has acquired a majority stake in Mitolo Family Farms-- Australia’s largest potato producer and owner of one of the country's largest horticultural land aggregations.
Journalist Richard Assheton visits the Ndiaël region in northern Senegal, where he meets communities fighting a decade-long campaign against the sale of 20,000 ha, now held by Frank Timis' African Agriculture Inc
With favourable global economic conditions, including current high commodity prices, and with Australia’s exchange rate at sub USD 0.70, big properties around Australia are changing hands with overseas investors buying in.
- Property Tribune
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25 January 2023
The deal is the second $100 million-plus farming transaction involving offshore investors this year, highlighting the global appeal of prime Australian farmland.
Global agricultural investor Nuveen Natural Capital has joined a growing pool of institutional fund managers targeting Australia’s burgeoning macadamia sector, after buying one of the country’s largest orchards
For Minneapolis-based Proterra Investment Partners, the sale represents a second lucrative exit in its agricultural funds, after it sold a 22,386-hectare cropping portfolio in Victoria and South Australia last year.