Real Assets

The ABARES annual conference was abuzz with talk of better trade relations and water markets trading, but don’t mention EU-style farm subsidies to Australian policy makers.

Munich Re Group's asset manager also closed a forestry deal in the US south for a ‘low triple-digit’ sum in February.

The firm has invested more than €2bn in timberland for Munich Re Group since 2009 and has built up a 400,000ha portfolio.

The funds will be used on a project to build semi-permanent canal blocks through the peat swamp forest that will raise the water table and restore degraded land, New Forests said.

An agreement between UK-based Drax and Molpus Woodlands Group shows how plans to build bioenergy with carbon capture (BECCs) projects could create new pulpwood demand in the years ahead.

Chief executive Alex Finkral says the firm’s Sumitomo-backed debut fund takes a broad approach to generating returns but neglecting carbon would mean 'you are probably doing your investors a disservice'.

Negative appreciate across numerous permanent crops such as almonds, pistachios and citrus fruits wiped out income returns on a net basis.

Manulife Investment Management’s agreement with the Indonesia Investment Authority will focus on real estate investments initially, to support the country’s logistics sector.

The deal to delist Costa Group now only requires the formality of Foreign Investment Review Board approval to complete, with the firm set to become a private company again after listing in 2015.

The firm expanded its partnership with iCapital last year to include access to farmland investments through its open-end Global Farmland Fund.