buy and lease

AAM’s flagship Diversified Agriculture Fund is seeking more capital to deploy into its northern Australia cattle assets and to expand its softwood timber businesses.

The two foundation assets for the Warakirri Farmland Fruit are stone fruit orchards that will be leased to WF Montague under a 20-year agreement.

Managing director David Bryant says the firm was in discussions with institutional investors over potentially leasing its macadamia orchards in Queensland.

Sandmount Farms, built by goFARM over several years and prepared for further development, is likely to sell for more than A$250m.

Gina Rinehart’s agricultural business secured an ‘excellent outcome’ through the sale, which included two properties not part of the original divestment plan.

The listed investor will acquire the asset in two separate 50% tranches, raising a new fund that will eventually own the entire asset.

The Canadian farmland investment firm could reach $1bn within three years due to a combination of inflation and low financial market yields, says director and co-founder Stephen Johnston.

Roc Partners’ Premium Food Fund was one of three buyers, alongside Primewest and another local buyer, for Harvard University’s Western Rosella portfolio.

The feed mill is the fund’s fourth asset and the first since the purchase of three foundation assets, all of which have been acquired via sale-and-leaseback arrangements.

Primewest will use part of the A$60m raised in an institutional placement to make a cornerstone investment in its first agriculture fund.