IPE Real Assets | 10 February 2022
Louisiana Teachers OKs $50m to PGIM’s US agriculture fund
BY JON PETERSON
The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) has approved a $50m (€43m) commitment to PGIM’s US agriculture fund.
According to the pension fund’s meeting document, PGIM has set a $1bn (€875.8m) fundraising target for PGIM US Agriculture Fund and converted the fund into a perpetual-life vehicle.
In April last year, IPE Real Assets reported that PGIM was opening up its existing $400m agriculture portfolio to third-party investors with a view to raise $600m from investors and eventually converting it into an open-ended fund.
At the time, the Washington State Investment Board was considering a $100m commitment and was among a select number of investors offered access to the fund.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2021, the net asset value for the Agriculture Fund was $427m. The fund’s assets include permanent crops, including citrus and nuts, and row crops such as corn, soybean, rice and cotton.
The fund expects to exceed the NCREIF Farmland Index and deliver a net return of 7% to 9% over a complete market cycle.
PGIM did not respond to a request for comment.
