Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) recently acquired 115,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland for $128 million. According to André Bourbonnais CPP's senior vice-president of private investments “Farmland is an attractive asset class that has historically delivered stable, risk-adjusted returns and the global outlook for agriculture in general is positive due to increasing demand for agricultural products."
Agcapita July 2013 - Central Banking's Scylla and Charybdis
Agcapita Update - Canada Pension Plan adds Canadian Farmland to its investment Portfolio for the First Time
1. Canada Pension Plan adds Canadian Farmland to its investment Portfolio for the
First Time
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, ATTENTION INVESTMENT EDITORS – December 12,
2013 - Calgary
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) recently acquired 115,000
acres of Saskatchewan farmland for $128 million. According to André
Bourbonnais CPP's senior vice-president of private investments “Farmland is an
attractive asset class that has historically delivered stable, risk-adjusted returns
and the global outlook for agriculture in general is positive due to increasing
demand for agricultural products… Farmland is an attractive asset class that has
historically delivered stable, risk-adjusted returns and the global outlook for
agriculture in general is positive due to increasing demand for agricultural
products… Farmland investments align well with CPPIB's long-term investment
strategy while also further diversifying our portfolio.”
Farmland continues to gain attention as a useful portfolio addition for pensions
and family offices - investors with long-term horizons and who seek stable
returns and unique portfolio diversifiers. CPP's investment represents one of the
first forays by a large Canadian institutional investor into domestic farmland
investments and bodes well for the future of the Canadian market.
About Agcapita: Agcapita believes that farmland funds continue to show great
appeal to conservative investors concerned with inflation and the volatility of their
existing public equity investments. Farmland has similar inflation hedging
qualities to gold but with an ongoing cash yield that gold lacks. Farmland returns
have exhibited low volatility and this combined with higher absolute returns
equate to a favorable Sharpe ratio. Agcapita’s funds directly hold diversified
portfolios of farmland in western Canada, and in particular in the highly price
competitive province of Saskatchewan. Agcapita’s fund’s give investors the
benefit of a direct investment in farmland combined with a model of front-end
loaded cash rents. Agcapita believes farmland is a safe investment, that supply is
shrinking and that unprecedented demand for "food, feed and fuel" will continue
to move crop prices higher over the long-term. Agcapita is one of Canada's most
experienced farmland fund managers, launching its first fund in Q1 2008.
This news release may contain certain information that is forward looking and, by
its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to important risks and
uncertainties. The words "anticipate,""expect," "may," "should" "estimate,"
"project," "outlook," "forecast" or other similar words are used to identify such
forward looking information. Those forward-looking statements herein made by
2. Agcapita, if any, reflect Agcapita's beliefs and assumptions based on information
available at the time the statements were made (including, without limitation, that
(i) the demand for agricultural commodities will continue to grow at a pace that is
unlikely to be matched by growth in agricultural productivity, and (ii) investment
demand for tangible assets such as agricultural commodities and farmland will
continue to increase for the foreseeable future). Actual results or events may
differ from those anticipated or predicted in these forward-looking statements,
and the differences may be material. Factors which could cause actual results or
events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things:
risks associated with the ownership and operation of farmland, including
fluctuations in interest rates, rental rates and vacancy rates; general economic
conditions; local real estate markets; supply and demand for farmland;
competition for available farmland; weather; crop diseases; the price of grain and
other agricultural commodities; changes in legislation and the regulatory
environment; and international trade and global political conditions. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information
contained in this news release (if any), which is given as of the date it is
expressed herein. Agcapita's undertakes no obligation to update publicly or
revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
*All returns quoted in the update reports are 1) unrealized valuations based on a
range of internal estimates drawn from market comparables and the audited
financial statements and 2) are estimated past performance and do not
guarantee future results. Future realized returns may differ. Performance shown
does not include performance fee payable to the investment manager and would
have been lower had this been taken into account. Data, except where otherwise
indicated, is current as of December 31, 2012.