Final close for Brookfield’s Brazil ‘AgriLand’ fund

Brookfield has raised $330 million for its Brazilian agriculture fund, the firm’s first private investment fund focused exclusively on agricultural land.

Brookfield Senior Vice President Scott White said the $330 million marks a final close for the fund, which achieved a first close in late 2009. The target for the fund was $400 million, he said.

The Toronto-based asset manager said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it raised money from 19 investors committed across four funds dedicated to the Brazil-focused agriculture investment vehicle, the Brookfield Brazil AgriLand Fund.

Brookfield said in an investor presentation in October 2010 that the AgriLand Fund will buy up pasture lands in Brazil and convert them to crops. Brookfield said the fund would target a 20 to 25 percent internal rate of return.

Brookfield made the presentation to the $7.2 billion San Diego County Employees’ Retirement Association, which recommended a $75 million commitment to the fund. Brookfield also committed $100 million of its own capital toward the fund.

The fund is run by Renato Cassim Cavalini, a Brookfield managing partner based in Rio de Janeiro.

The fund’s final close comes on the heels of a successful fundraise for Brookfield’s Americas Infrastructure Fund, which closed on $2.7 billion in September. That fundraising marked one of the largest final closes for infrastructure funds in 2010.

The Brazil AgriLand and Americas funds are part of a broader array of real asset- and infrastructure-focused investment funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management. The firm has established private funds and investment programs totaling $22 billion since 2001, according to a previously issued statement. Overall, Brookfield has $100 billion of assets under management.