ACM Permanent Crops fund beats target

The US private equity fund has closed on $250m.

The ACM Permanent Crops Fund, a vertically-integrated US private equity fund, has closed on $250 million, some $50 million ahead of target, according to an SEC filing.

The fund, which launched in association with Equilibrium Capital, the Californian real assets platform, held a first close on $124 million in February this year and has since attracted over $100 million in commitments including $50 million from Maine Public Employees Retirement System.

All investors in the fund were institutional, according to a source close to the deal.

Other investors in the fund include a $62 million commitment from Aether Investment Partners, University of Oregon for $12 million and Washington State Investment Board for $50 million, as reported.

ACM is an own-and-operate, vertically-integrated fund investing into permanent crop land – across citrus, berries, table grapes and nuts – and into midstream assets further up the value chain such as processing, packaging, storage and distribution. This vertical integration enables the fund to capture some of the value in the permanent crops industry beyond the farm gate. It also enables the fund to maintain sustainable practices, a key tenet of Equilibrium’s overall strategy.

The firm did not use a placement agent.