New Forests and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) have agreed to buy an Australian farm asset, Lawson Grains, from Macquarie Asset Management.
Financial details of the transaction are confidential. However, specialist agriculture land agents involved with marketing the asset when it became available in March this year said demand from institutional investors for such assets suggested it could fetch between A$550m and $600m (鈧�340m and 鈧�372m).
Lawson Grains, one of Australia鈥檚 leading corporate grain growers, owns a 90,500 arable hectare agricultural land estate across New South Wales and Western Australia.
Mark Rogers, New Forests鈥� senior managing director (Australia, New Zealand, US), said the investment is a 鈥渘atural extension to New Forests鈥� landscape management approach, ensuring integrated production across Australia鈥檚 varied landscape and backed by our valued client, AIMCo鈥�.
Ben Hawkins, senior vice president and head of infrastructure and renewable resources at AIMCo, said: 鈥淭he opportunity to acquire Lawson Grains, a fully-integrated grains business built on quality assets, people and systems, presents an attractive opportunity for AIMCo鈥檚 renewable resource portfolio to add a significant core asset.鈥�
AIMCo had a long history of making sustainable investments into Australia on behalf of its clients, he said.
In 2011, AIMCo and New Forest purchased the Great Southern Plantations timberland for A$415m.
Macquarie Asset Management is divesting Lawson Grains at the conclusion of a 10-year investment mandate with its investors.
Liz O鈥橪eary, Macquarie Asset Management head of agriculture, said: 鈥淭his transaction demonstrates the natural evolution of agriculture as an increasingly mature and attractive alternative investment class.
鈥淚t provides a vote of confidence for investors regarding the opportunity to invest in agriculture businesses and, ultimately, to realise the investments in the same way they are used to doing in other asset classes.鈥�
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