Fundraising

The vehicle targets family offices, DFIs, corporates and foundations as it eyes a first close by the end of the year, VC chief Selma Ribica tells Agri Investor.

Uganda, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea are among the target countries for the proposed crop-financing program, which aims to improve market access for 40,000 smallholders.

The program's focus is on projects to be implemented through 2022, but EIB executives tell Agri Investor the bank hopes to replicate the entire program, if successful.

Dallas Police and Fire Pension System investment manager Ryan Wagner tells Agri Investor that an ongoing review at the $2.1bn pension includes examination of fund structures most appropriate for an agricultural investor of its size.

European pensions are more comfortable with debt than equity when investing in the developing world, the Dutch institution's investment management chief tells us.

Two execs at the firm, which hopes to reach A$200m in AUM upon full deployment, say Canadian pensions are entering Australia ‘en masse and in a simultaneous fashion.’

The Food for Generations fund looks to beat the MSCI World Index by backing a portfolio of public companies with minimal exposure to ag production cycles, says portfolio manager Stéphane Soussan.

Chief operating officer David Lee told Agri Investor that the fast-growing plant-based foods pioneer structured recent investments as convertible debt as it prepares to launch its product line in Asia.

As the company's biological input products move closer to commercialization, BioConsortia chief executive Marcus Meadows-Smith tells Agri Investor that recent years have demonstrated the need for agricultural know-how among ag-tech investors.

The investment platform includes three strategy-specific funds and a flagship vehicle that would deploy capital across all strategies.