Australia

Macquarie Group, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, has announced that one of its agricultural funds will seek to acquire all of the issued securities in Australian listed farmland REIT Vitalharvest

American pension fund giant TIAA sold its Southern Riverina farming aggregation between Wagga Wagga and Albury in southern NSW to local Australian farmers after more than a decade of ownership.

The sale includes just under 300,000 head of cattle, nine pastoral leases across the Northern Territory and Queensland totalling around 3.2 million hectares, and a 90 per cent stake in a feedlot business in Indonesia.

Australia’s largest dairy operation, Tasmania’s historic Van Diemen’s Land Company, is reportedly on the verge of being offloaded by its Chinese businessman owner Xianfeng Lu.

The $56.5 billion Harvard University Endowment Fund is preparing to sell another chunk of its Australian almond and cotton holdings after putting the Western Rosella Farming portfolio in the NSW Riverina on the market.

Agricultural investors say the COVID-19 crisis has had little impact on their business and investment intentions, with Australian agricultural land, water and business assets as appealing as ever to investors.

The Singaporean-owned company has about 7600 hectares of farmland including a network of 25 properties in the Murray Valley and near Bendigo and in the Victorian Wimmera, carrying about 40,000 breeding sows.

Giant South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group is looking to make an exit from the Warragundi aggregation in Australia, just over a year after taking control of the largest acreages in NSW’s Mudgee region.

The owner of a Northern Territory cattle station has unveiled plans to develop a "nationally significant" fruit and vegetable operation in the middle of Australia.

Rural Funds Management has announced the sale of its Mooral almond orchard to Boston-based Hancock Agricultural Investment Group

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest says conservation and heritage considerations must be balanced against the need for farming, after outbiding the Yi-Martuwarra people for a vast land holding on their territories.

London-based Stafford Capital Partners has raised €12m from three European pension funds towards its soon-to-be-launched follow-up to its Australian farmland fund.