Davies leaves Insight Investment – exclusive

Martin Davies will next month leave Insight Investment, the BNY Mellon-owned specialist asset manager where he has been head of farmland investments since January 2009. Davies was instrumental in setting up Insight Investment’s first agriculture fund – Insight Global Farmland Fund – and is leaving as the $250 million fund nears complete deployment.

There are no immediate plans to replace Davies, according to a spokesperson.

Insight will be left with a 10-strong agriculture team, led by Reza Vishkai, head of the Specialist Investments Group. The team includes Ian Jamieson, who was hired as chief operating officer in July, and David Beca, who was appointed head of farmland management in November 2013.

It was unclear at press time what Davies planned to do next. Davies declined to comment.

Before joining Insight, Davies was operations director for five years at Proventus International, an agriculture investment management firm focusing on Eastern Europe. Previously, he spent a year as an agribusiness consultant for Strutt & Parker, the property agency, and five years with Cooperative Group Farms, where he was head of farming operations.

Fund I closed on $250 million last year. Insight is likely to launch a second fund once the first fund is fully deployed, according to a source close to the situation. Davies’ move will not trigger a key man clause in the fund.