Real Assets

CAP managing director Jim Heyes says the team behind MozFibra has laid the business plans necessary to avoid the pitfalls of many past African forestry investments that did not put the required emphasis on market access logistics.

Data from Rural Bank, ANREV and Savills all pointed to farmland values growing less quickly in 2023, with interest rates and high inflation the main culprits.

Ardian and Morrison & Co, two infrastructure fund managers, revealed nature-based investment strategies in 2023 that they say fit neatly within their infrastructure strategies – a trend that looks set to continue.

Income growth remained negative for only the second time since the 2015 inception of the Australian Farmland Index, as lower commodity prices and climatic changes have an impact.

A mixed bag for 2023 looks set to continue next year – but savvy investors are still finding success.

A Western Australian grain farm the size of Bahrain is already attracting attention from institutional investors, real estate agents say.

With a string of big deals in Australia and elsewhere, Canadian investors continued to flex their muscles and demonstrate their commitment to the asset class in 2023.

The Canadian fund will merge Montague with its existing subsidiary Pomona Valley, which is managed by its Australian agriculture arm AustOn.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture has added a NSW dairy asset to its portfolio after recent acquisitions from Packhorse Pastoral Company.

Gunn Agri Partners’ Wilga Farming platform, backed by CDPQ and the CEFC, has also made its first two investments since launching with a seed asset in June 2023.