The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), an Australian government-owned green bank, and CDPQ, a global investment group, has announced the launch of a strategic partnership focused on agricultural land in Australia. Its first acquisition is of a farm dedicated to row crops located in New South Wales.
The new platform will invest an initial amount of AUD $200 million (CAD $178 million) over the next three years to acquire assets that will be managed by Gunn Agri Partners, a leading Australian farmland manager, of which CDPQ and the CEFC will become minority shareholders.
According to a press release, the first asset acquired covers 1,200 hectares of arable crops and areas suitable for grazing and conservation.
“This CDPQ investment is a welcome addition to the Australian market, to demonstrate the potential for institutional capital to drive the decarbonization of agriculture. We believe there is enormous untapped potential for new investment in a sustainable future for agriculture as part of a net zero economy,” Heechung Sung, Head of Natural Capital at the CEFC, said in a statement.
