August 22, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Macquarie Asset Management has expanded its farmland holdings through the acquisition of the Cowal Agriculture farmland portfolio in central Queensland, in a deal reported to be valued as high as A$120 million (US$82.49 million). 

Affiliated with U.S.-based Global Endowment Management, and located in Queensland Central Highlands region, the Cowal Agriculture aggregation was formerly under control of PrimeAg before being sold in 2013.

All together, the aggregation, which has 12 kilometers of frontage on the Nogoa River, comprises six farms totaling approximately 6,000 hectares (14.826 acres) producing a range of summer and winter crops including sorghum, cotton, cereals, wheat, chickpeas, and mung beans. Half of this land is irrigated, thanks to the property’s location downstream from the Fairbairn Dam, and its water entitlements exceed 27,000 megaliters of medium-priority water supported by about 8,025 megaliters of on-farm water storage.

LAWD, which oversaw the selling process, noted that the aggregation is highly suitable for a variety of high-value crops, horticulture, or permanent plantings, and holds the potential to further develop portions of the land to bank-less channel and center pivot irrigation. 

It also is strategically located in close proximity to commodity processing facilities, including two cotton gins – Queensland Cotton and Louis Dreyfus Company – and the GrainCorp grain receival site at Emerald.

Busy on Both Sides

Macquarie has had a very busy month. Toward the end of July, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V (MIP V), an Americas-focused infrastructure fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management, announced an investment that will ultimately make Macquarie a controlling factor in the largest independent agriculture port terminals operator in Brazil. 

Brazil is already the top global exporter of soybeans, coffee, sugar, chicken, and beef, and is considered a major exporter of cotton, corn, and pork. In the first half of this year alone, the country has seen its corn exports increase by 221 percent as it moves to fill the supply gap created by a lack of exports out of Ukraine. Projections by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the USDA indicate that in the 2022/23 marketing year, Brazil is expected to break corn production and export records to reach 126 million tons in production and 47 million tons in exports. 

The war in Ukraine also opened up a new window of opportunity for Brazil’s farmers in the form of wheat. Not typically a major crop for Brazil, acreage has remained generally stable, increasing by only 6 percent between 2013-2020, according to the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois. However, due to the ongoing conflict in the Black Sea, and the availability of new  tropical, high-protein wheat varieties, expectations from Safras & Mercado are that Brazil will plant 3.6 million hectares of wheat – the largest acreage in 36 years.

MIP V has entered into an agreement to invest 500 million reais (US$91.9 million) in Brazilian port terminal operator Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura S.A. (CLI) via a primary issuance. Once closed, this deal will result in MIP V holding a 50 percent co-control stake in CLI along its current owner – funds managed by private equity manager IG4 Capital. In addition to this 50 percent ownership stake, MIP V stated it also will subscribe for new preferred shares issued by CLI. 

CLI is one of the four operating companies controlling Maranhão Grain Terminal (“TEGRAM”) at Brazil’s Port of Itaqui – one of the country’s largest grain terminals. To this partnership CLI brings expertise as an independent operator with a focus on port logistics in the agribusiness sector, delivering excellence in grain export shipping services.

In turn, MIP V’s investment in CLI will provide support for CLI to acquire an 80 percent controlling stake in Elevações Portuárias S.A. (EPSA) from Rumo S.A. (Rumo) for $260 million. Located in Santos, Brazil, EPSA is the largest bulk sugar and grain terminal in the country.

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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