OTPP’s AustOn will manage the new entity, known as Pomona Valley, with input from the current owners of the orchards.
The aggregation of seven dairy farms in Victoria is in the ‘top echelon’ of Australian dairy producers, a source says.
Managing director Chris Sun says improving food safety conditions and the influence of key opinion leaders on China’s consumers help make the company’s direct-to-consumer model especially attractive.
The sub-Saharan forestry investor has been steadily divesting its 2010 vehicle and has raised $115m for a successor fund, which reached its final close in April 2020.
Partner Andrew Sweet compares partially or fully developed fruit genetics libraries produced by government funding that has since dried to ‘stranded assets’, which the firm wants to acquire.
Return rates delivered by the 2008-vintage vehicle were undisclosed but managing director Joe Sanderson says figures in the 15% to 20% range are ‘not uncommon’ in the sector.
The greenhouse grower went public via a SPAC in February and sees an opportunity to capitalize on the widespread demand for ‘high-tech growth investment,’ says president David Lee.
The project could unlock investment in northern Australian cotton, seen as a potential growth industry by many producers.
The start-up has been involved in farmland assets with double-digit values and expects to be ‘active across the spectrum of size,’ says CEO Carter Malloy.
A huge cropping portfolio has hit the market in Australia, which will provide an indication of the true level of institutional appetite for farmland.