Houston pension commits $20m to Tillridge fund

The fund has brought on its second institutional investor after MainPERS confirmed an investment in the fund in September.

The Houston Municipal Employees Pension System has committed up to $20 million to the Tillridge Global Agribusiness Partners II fund, spokesman Peter Koops told Agri Investor.

The $2.5 billion pension made the investment from its inflation-linked assets allocation, which forms 6 percent of its portfolio and was valued at $147.6 million in March 2016.

Global Agribusiness Partners II also attracted $50 million from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System last month.

The previous fund in the series, Global Agribusiness Partners, closed in 2015 on $402 million, 25 percent above its initial target. That fund invested in agri-product distribution and services, transportation and logistics, commodity processing, packaging and distribution, food and feed ingredient processing and food service manufacturing.

Tillridge is an affiliate of NGP Energy Capital Management. The firm makes direct equity investments in food, feed and industrial companies. The Tillridge team began investing in 2012 from the NGP Natural Resources Fund X.

Based in Irving, Texas, Tillridge has invested in 10 companies including inputs and grain handling company GFG Ag Services, fresh produce supplier Growers Express and ILTA Grain, which specialises in the provision of speciality crops.