October 16, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Private real estate investment trust (REIT) Goldcrest Farm Trust (GFT)  announced it has secured more than $300 million in capital commitments from a collective of leading institutional pension fund investors for its second investment vehicle. Although the specific pension funds have not been named, it is known that the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has invested in Goldcrest in the past. 

This funding brings the REIT’s total long-term capital managed across both of its vehicles to over $600 million.

Privately held and launched originally under the name U.S. Farm Trust in 2015, Goldcrest Farm Trust is managed by Goldcrest Farm Trust Advisors (GFTA), which focuses exclusively on building and managing GFT’s farmland portfolio.

The GFTA team has a collective, successful track record in farmland investing, and come from prior positions with some of the world’s leading firms, including Duquesne Capital Management, SAC Capital Advisors, Goldman Sachs, and U.S. Trust. Its management also includes former founders of AgCoA, a private farmland REIT recently acquired by the Gates Foundation.

The team’s process of combining deep macro research with portfolio management, capital markets experience with boots-on-the-ground farming, asset management, and market knowledge, position the REIT to realize outsized risk-adjusted returns by committing capital in “value” states, and by performing accretive asset management at the property and portfolio levels.

Since its founding, the REIT has invested in more than 70,000 acres of conventional and organic farmland across six U.S. states, creating a portfolio consisting of a range of high-quality assets, from greenfield development projects to established farms with medium-to-long term leases in place with the best operators in each region. And currently, the REIT is in the process of developing “Goldcrest Farms”, a 25,000-acre re-development project in Southwest Arkansas. 

“We are grateful for the ongoing trust and additional capital commitment from our shareholders,” said Edward Hargroves, co-founder and partner, GFTA. “The recent volatility in agricultural markets has created exciting investment opportunities across the United States and the long-term case for investing in the farmland asset class continues to become more compelling every year.”

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.