Fundraising

Agriculture is one of several asset classes under consideration for the Australia China Family Office Alliance which has launched with A$50m of seed capital.

Green Camel, in Sydney’s south-west, is raising A$8.5m as it pioneers organic glasshouse farming collocated with barramundi breeding on a commercial scale. Agri Investor got an exclusive tour of the facilities.

Chief investment officer Andrew Sawyer tells Agri Investor the $14bn pension is 'pretty close to being fully committed' after allocating more than $800m to ag and timber vehicles since 2014.

Chief executive David Nicola tells Agri Investor the three-year term loan secured through the crowdfunding platform will allow his firm to continue building its model for scalable grass-fed beef production.

As it scouts the market for private infrastructure, timber and farmland funds, the $8.1bn pension has created a temporary allocation to invest in passive vehicles offering exposure to the same underlying assets.

Managing partner Jeffrey Howard says Front Range Biosciences is among the companies benefiting from a surge in private investor interest in cannabis.

The investment comes as the $9bn Sacramento pension earmarks up to 30% of an increased real assets portfolio for ag and timber by 2020.

The $129bn pension, which has backed Agriculture Capital and Homestead Capital among others in the past, is providing one-sixth of the dry powder sought by IFC's $1.5bn buy-and-lease vehicle.

The Brisbane-based firm, which was part of a failed Chinese-led bid for S Kidman & Co, has seen ‘continuing interest’ from investors in unlisted assets.

As it strives to become a more diversified logistics provider, 114-year-old Maersk hopes to learn from entrepreneurs by becoming a 'credible' investor, says Maersk Growth venture partner Peter Votkjaer Jorgensen.