Tillridge fund halfway to $750m target

The Tillridge Global Agribusiness Partners II fund has raised $375.2 million towards its $750 million target, according to a regulatory filing shown Monday.

The filing revealed that the fund, the second from the Irving, Texas-based NGP Capital spin out, has raised just over half of its target from 26 investors. A previous filing from November showed the firm had raised $309 million from 16 investors in the fund.

Tillridge Global Agribusiness Partners II will focus on midstream assets including value-chain support, primary and value-add processing, handling and storage, inputs, as well as crop and animal production, according to Kristin Varela, real returns portfolio manager at the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico.

Varela told Agri Investor last year that the fund will target a gross IRR of 25 percent over its 10-year life.

In a December podcast interview, Tillridge managing partner Mark Zenuk discussed how the downturn in commodity prices impacted the investment landscape in agriculture and validated the firm’s strategy to focus away from direct land investments.

“There are areas in the business that many view as being really sleepy and not generally high-earning sectors,” he said. “We like that opinion of the business itself because it keeps people from really digging in. In each of the different areas along the value chain that we are active in, we are finding teams of people that have been producing at high levels of value-add to their business.”

Commitments to Tillridge Global Agribusiness Partners II have included a $20 million investment by the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, a $50 million investment by the Maine Public Employees Retirement System and a $100 million commitment from the Oregon Investment Council.

Tillridge’s previous fund, Global Agribusiness Partners I, closed on $402 million in 2015 after having surpassed its initial target of 25 percent.

The team leading Tillridge began investing from within NGP Natural Resources X fund in 2012. The firm’s current portfolio includes specialty grain and pulses-focused ILTA Grain, specialty malt company Proximity Malt and Agriculture and Energy Carriers, a dry bulk chartering and vessel company.