A fund manager for the Kattegat Trust foundation, Anholt Services, has bought 2,700 hectares of farmland in Romania, increasing the investor’s land holdings in the country by 45 percent.
The deal is comprised of two separate purchases made through Anholt’s subsidiary and European land holding vehicle, Southern Harvest. One of the transactions was for a “significant portion […] of land farmed under an organic system” and all land purchased will be owned and operated by Southern Harvest, Anholt partner Rudolph Krediet told Agri Investor. He said most of the land is used for growing major grains, except for a part of the organic farming operation dedicated to speciality crops.
“[Organic farming] is intrinsic to our strategy and that’s something we want to build up going forward,” Krediet said, adding that Anholt’s investments in Romania are long term.
“This was a unique asset in that it had been organic for some time. It’s a much bigger step to go organic than it is to snap your fingers and wait three years. There’s a lot of training that goes into learning organic farming methods.”
Anholt is wholly owned by the Bermuda-based Kattegat Trust, which describes itself as a family office-based philanthropic foundation. It has interests across a wide range of asset classes, including hard assets, fund partnership interests and control and minority stakes in private and public companies.
Investments include land holdings in Europe and Latin America, as well as Brazilian private equity firm Aqua Capital, which has interests in food and agricultural storage companies Comfrio and Stock Tech, as well as merged fertiliser company Aminoagro and Dimicron.
Kattegat was initially endowed by the estate of Jens Torben Karlshoej, who founded the energy transport shipping company Teekay and died in 1992. Anholt does not work with any other investment partners.
Additional reporting: Chuck Stanley.
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