Boston Business Journal | 6 September 2011
by Craig M. Douglas
AEW Capital Management of Boston is launching a new investment division to acquire farmland in the United States and Canada.
The Boston-based real estate investment firm, which has accumulated a number of high-profile commercial properties in recent years, said the move was driven by the sector’s long-term stability and “compelling” returns. Mike Acton, head of AEW’s research, said the expansion also hinges on the evolving demands for food in the developing world.
“... as income levels rise in developing economies, like China and India, people will consume not only more food, but more animal protein,” Acton said, in prepared remarks. “Very simply, more meat will require substantially more grain production. These changes in the diet of the developing world will have major implications for agriculture.”
AEW Capital has tapped Hunt Stookey to head the new unit, AEW Agriculture. Stookey previously served as a managing director with HighQuest Partners, a Topsfield-based consultancy specialized in agribusiness.
Founded in 1981, AEW Capital and its affiliates — AEW Europe and AEW Asia — manage more than $47 billion in real estate assets and securities worldwide. The company is headquartered at 2 Seaport Lane in Boston and is run by Jeffrey Furber, a Harvard Business School graduate and former senior executive with Winthrop Financial Associates of Boston.
In August, The Round Up reported that AEW is in the market to raise a new $350 million investment fund targeting commercial properties throughout the United States.
Among AEW Capital’s bigger deals was its 2010 acquisition of One Brigham Circle in Boston.
The firm paid roughly $100 million for the 200,000-square-foot, mixed-use development along Huntington Avenue, on the outer edges of the Longwood Medical Area.
by Craig M. Douglas
AEW Capital Management of Boston is launching a new investment division to acquire farmland in the United States and Canada.
The Boston-based real estate investment firm, which has accumulated a number of high-profile commercial properties in recent years, said the move was driven by the sector’s long-term stability and “compelling” returns. Mike Acton, head of AEW’s research, said the expansion also hinges on the evolving demands for food in the developing world.
“... as income levels rise in developing economies, like China and India, people will consume not only more food, but more animal protein,” Acton said, in prepared remarks. “Very simply, more meat will require substantially more grain production. These changes in the diet of the developing world will have major implications for agriculture.”
AEW Capital has tapped Hunt Stookey to head the new unit, AEW Agriculture. Stookey previously served as a managing director with HighQuest Partners, a Topsfield-based consultancy specialized in agribusiness.
Founded in 1981, AEW Capital and its affiliates — AEW Europe and AEW Asia — manage more than $47 billion in real estate assets and securities worldwide. The company is headquartered at 2 Seaport Lane in Boston and is run by Jeffrey Furber, a Harvard Business School graduate and former senior executive with Winthrop Financial Associates of Boston.
In August, The Round Up reported that AEW is in the market to raise a new $350 million investment fund targeting commercial properties throughout the United States.
Among AEW Capital’s bigger deals was its 2010 acquisition of One Brigham Circle in Boston.
The firm paid roughly $100 million for the 200,000-square-foot, mixed-use development along Huntington Avenue, on the outer edges of the Longwood Medical Area.
