Real Assets

Australia’s agriculture industry is courting foreign investment – but domestic institutional investors should be stepping up, too.

The new commitment by the Washington State Investment Board was approved at an April board meeting and takes its total commitment to agri to $650 million.

Managers are embracing a range of different investment structures in agri, but are there too many?

NGP Global Agribusiness Partners, the subsidiary of NGP Energy Capital, has closed its inaugural fund on $402m, some 25% above target.

Burned by its first domestic investment, the Australian super fund will look for longer term, larger scale and more geographically diverse opportunities in the future.

Classifying agri-investments is one of the main challenges for institutional investors considering the asset class for the first time.

The private markets group is finalising a fourth hire to its real assets team as it emphasises the importance of the asset class.

Danica Pension is the latest LP to join the platform, preferring direct investment to committing to a fund.