After raising $200 million for its first agriculture fund, Black River Asset Management plans to raise at least $400 million for its Black River Agriculture Fund 2 LP, and possibly as much as $500 million. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, to this point Black River Agriculture Fund 2 LP has closed on $90.1 million with the bulk of that amount coming from a $75 million commitment from the Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois. As limited partners seek hedging strategies and ones that have hard assets associated with them, food and agriculture targeted investments are gaining notice. In May, China’s CMIA Capital Partners began raising a $150 million fund focused on food and agriculture, and in 2012 Russia’s VTB Capital established an operating company with $200 million to invest on Russian agriculture. In November of 2012 Macquarie Crop Partners raised $232 million for its crop fund, and raised its goal for its crop fund from $600 million to $800 million.
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