Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) announced two new hires in support of the geographical expansion of its agricultural management funds business.

Growing steadily since 2007 to become one of Australia’s largest diversified farmers, MIRA is a dedicated global manager of agricultural businesses with more than US$1 billion in investor commitments and 4.5 million hectares of farmland in Australia and Brazil under management.

With the goal of expanding into the Northern Hemisphere, MIRA announced the addition of London-based Angus Selby and Charles Newton to its team.

Selby brings 20 years of experience, having served in a series of farming, commodity, and fund management roles in the international agriculture sector. Most recently he held the position of Head of Agriculture for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) where he created and built up a global portfolio of direct agricultural investments valued a C$4.5 billion (US$3.65 billion).

CPPIB was relatively late in joining other pension funds in investing in farmland. In 2012, the pension launched its agricultural investment program initially focusing on farmland in Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. At that time the fund began buying properties across North America, eventually building a portfolio that consists of approximately 120,000 acres in the U.S. and another 120,000 in Canada.

However, in April 2017,  one year after agreeing to acquire a 40 percent stake in commodity trader Glencore for $2.5 billion in April 2016, CPPIB declared its decision to pull back from farmland investments after pushback from Canadian farmers who feared that ownership of farmland assets by pensions funds with massive war chests would push them out of the land market.

These concerns led Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart to announce in October 2015 that the province had tightened its already stringent farmland ownership laws, closing loopholes to exclude pension funds or their administrators from owning farmland in the province.

Newton has 15 years experience in financial management, business analysis, operations, and investment management roles in the agriculture sector, and also comes to Macquarie after serving with CPPIB where he was a Principal in the pension fund’s agriculture team with a focus on downstream investments.

“Both Angus and Charles have dedicated their careers to agribusiness investing and this is reflected in their strong international experience and track records,” said Elizabeth O’Leary, head of MIRA’s agriculture funds management business. “We are delighted to welcome two exceptional agriculture investment specialists to our team.”

-Lynda Kiernan 

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.