Fund Manager of the Year

WINNER: Gresham House

RUNNER UP: Mirova

British fund manager Gresham House had a big 2021, as the firm set out its stall at the start of the year when it told Agri Investor it had four new forestry funds in the pipeline and would be going global for its expansion plans. The first of the firm’s timberland vehicles arrived in June with the launch of a £300 million ($394 million; €355 million) UK-based fund, which would partly deliver distributions in the form of carbon credits on top of the target 6 percent IRR. The fund hit a £200 million second close in December, prior to which in August, the firm took a big step towards achieving its global ambitions when it was appointed manager of AXA IM Alts A$700 million ($526 million; €478million) Green Triangle Forest Products asset in Australia – a country in which it had not previously managed a forestry asset.

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Institutional Investor of the Year – Europe

WINNER: AP3

RUNNER UP: ABP

Sweden’s AP3 pension acquired 300,000 acres of eastern Texas timberland in a deal worth approximately $500 million in September. The pension was supported in its acquisition by Hancock Natural Resource Group (now Manulife Investment Management Timberland and Agriculture), who will also manage the asset. The deal continued AP3’s moves towards direct investments, which began in 2014 after a decade of exposure to the asset class predominately through third-party funds. Dan Bergman – who leads timberland investments for SKr502.3 billion ($53.2 billion; €48.3 billion) fund – told Agri Investor in September its portfolio consists of Skr2 billion in timberland fund exospore and SKr8 billion in direct investment. He added that strategic collaboration with Manulife will likely continue to play a role in its efforts to reach its allocation target for the asset class, which remains undisclosed.

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Equity Fundraising of the Year

WINNER: Stafford Capital Partners

RUNNER UP: Mirova

With its long history in the timberland asset class evidenced by the long line of vehicles it has in the space, Stafford Capital Partners closed the ninth iteration of its Stafford International Timberland Fund on $695 million in August – its biggest ever in the series. SIT IX was launched at the end of 2019 and fundraising predominately took place during the pandemic, during which it endured a seven- to eight-month stretch in 2020 when “a lot of LPs were just watching their portfolios before they made the decision to commit,” timberland managing partner Stephen Addicott told Agri Investor at the time. The vehicle also managed to secure a healthy $150 million commitment from the historically timberland-shy National Pension Service of Korea.

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Deal of the Year

WINNER: PepsiCo (PAI Partners)

RUNNER UP: Valeo Foods Group (Bain Capital)

French private equity firm PAI Partners closed one of the largest M&A transactions in the food and beverage industry in 2021, when it agreed a $3.3 billion deal with PepsiCo to take a controlling interest in drinks businesses such as Tropicana and Naked – the deal also landed PAI the Agribusiness Deal of the Year, Europe award. The acquired brands form part of a new joint venture between PepsiCo and PAI Partners, of which PAI has a 61 percent controlling stake. PAI has also secured “an irrevocable option” to buy certain PepsiCo European beverage businesses, but the names of these companies were undisclosed. The French firm’s portfolio also includes UK chilled foods platform Addo Food Group and Winterbotham Darby, Spanish seafood provider Angulas Aguinaga and Refresco, one of the biggest global beverage bottlers. PAI acquired a 60 percent stake in Euro Ethnic Foods in November 2020.

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Timberland Deal of the Year

WINNER: La Forêt de la Reine (AXA IM Alts)

RUNNER UP: BSW Timber Group (Endless LLP)

French asset manager AXA IM Alts closed a deal for the forest known as La Forêt de la Reine in December for an undisclosed size. The 537-hectare property is planted with oak trees (88 percent), as well as some beech (11 percent) and other species. La Forêt de la Reine is surrounded by strong harvesting and timber processing infrastructure, as well as being in close proximity to the AgroParisTech campus, a leading university in environmental and forestry engineering, said the firm. “The forest’s significant biodiversity characteristics align with AXA IM’s responsible investment approach and actions to contribute to the transition to a low-carbon world, allocating more capital to climate solutions and net-zero aligned assets,” AXA added.

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Agribusiness Deal of the Year

WINNER: PepsiCo (PAI Partners)

RUNNER UP: Valeo Foods Group (Bain Capital)

PAI Partners closed one of the largest M&A transactions in the food and beverage industry in 2021, when it agreed a $3.3 billion deal with PepsiCo to take a controlling interest in drinks businesses such as Tropicana and Naked – the deal also landed PAI the Deal of the Year, Europe award. The acquired brands form part of a new joint venture between PepsiCo and PAI Partners, of which PAI has a 61 percent controlling stake. PAI has also secured “an irrevocable option” to buy certain PepsiCo European beverage businesses, but the names of these companies were undisclosed. The French firm’s portfolio also includes UK chilled foods platform Addo Food Group and Winterbotham Darby, Spanish seafood provider Angulas Aguinaga and Refresco, one of the biggest global beverage bottlers. PAI acquired a 60 percent stake in Euro Ethnic Foods in November 2020.