Listed

The manager of ASX-listed Rural Funds Group has purchased Cobrunga, its third pastoral property acquisition and fourth overall since concluding a A$104m entitlement offer in August 2018.

The manager of ASX-listed Rural Funds Group has bought cotton and cattle properties months after securing A$150m through an equity raise.

The Canadian pension also becomes Webster’s largest shareholder as part of the transaction, acquiring a 19.15% stake in the company.

The Australian firm has received 'a lot of inbound approaches' regarding its private markets business since coming under attack from US short-seller Glaucus in March, says a company source.

Small-caps are the only segment to post gains in Q1, with US agribusiness stocks underperforming their European peers.

Chairman and chief executive David Gladstone says rising inflation, which he believes is currently under-reported, is driving up farmland values.

Overberg Agri and Acorn Agri, which is backed by local firms African Rainbow Capital and Sanlam, are each valued at more than $180m.

French stocks were a rare good news on this side of the Atlantic, though European stocks vastly outperformed their US peers in the whole of 2017.

The fresh round of term loan financing agreed with Rabo AgriFinance will go to paying down debt maturing this year.

The REIT paid some $13.6m for four contiguous farms at a time when tree nuts stand to benefit the most from increasing global middle class consumption.