Tag Archives: maralyn
Insight Adds To Farmland Flock
Insight adds to farmland flock Sarah Krouse 24 Oct 2013 Insight Investment has added a new farmland investment role to its team of experts in the sector, amid increased investor interest in farm assets. Insight adds to farmland flockThe asset manager has hired the former chief executive of farm investor NZ Farming Systems Uruguay to the newly created role of head of farmland management to help oversee its growing portfolio. David Beca will join later this year and be based out of London. Beca joins an eight-member team that works on farmland investments at Insight and will be responsible for overseeing the on-the-ground management of its farmland assets. The expansion of the investment team comes amid strong returns from rural land in the UK and globally. Beca has worked in a number of markets including Australia, Uruguay and South Africa for farmland investment, consulting and business analysis companies. Insight began its farmland strategy in 2011. The firm’s portfolio of investments includes a New Zealand dairy farm, a cattle station in northern Australia and arable farm assets in Romania. Other members of the team specialise in topics such as livestock and arable land and are based in a number of locations including Australia and Germany. Insight’s expansion of the team comes as it attempts to take advantage of increased investor interest in the asset class. The sector is touted as an attractive option for investors looking to diversify and boasts stronger returns than commercial property. Rural land in the UK, for example, has significantly outperformed commercial property in the country over the last five, 10 and 20 years, according to analytics firm Investment Property Databank. Rural land returned 8.9% compared with 0.7% for all property over five years; 13.2% compared with 6.3% property-wide over 10 years; and 13% compared with 8.9% for all property assets over 20 years. Beca will report to Martin Davies, head of farmland investments at Insight. Within the firm, the farmland investment team sits under specialist investments, a unit led by Reza Vishkai, who joined the firm in 2005. Beca said in a statement: “The development Continue reading
Kior To Get $100 Million From Khosla And Gates For Biofuel Plant
By Justin Doom – Oct 21, 2013 Kior Inc. (KIOR), operator of the first U.S. commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel plant, received commitments for $100 million in financing from Khosla Ventures LLC and Gates Ventures LLC to expand production at its Columbus, Mississippi, plant. Kior issued $42.5 million in convertible debt to Khosla Ventures, which also agreed to purchase as much as $42.5 million of shares in the Pasadena, Texas-based biofuel company after it raises enough to build its Columbus II project, according to a statement today. Gates Ventures bought a $7.5 million equity stake and will purchase an additional $7.5 in stock when the plant is fully funded. Kior expects to complete financing for the $225 million Columbus II plant through a debt offering, according to the statement. Vinod Khosla and his Khosla Ventures committed another $50 million to the plant last month. Khosla Ventures is Kior’s largest shareholder, with a 26 percent stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Columbus site went into production in October and has annual capacity of as much as 13 million gallons (49 million liters) of transportation fuel from wood waste and non-food crops, the company said. The Columbus II addition is expected to double that to 26 million gallons. Kior said in August that it shipped about 75,000 gallons in the second quarter, compared with a May forecast of as much as 500,000 gallons. To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at jdoom1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net Continue reading
Romania Exported This Year Wheat Worth 300 mil. Euro, Double Against 2012
01.10.2013 Romania exported this year wheat worth 300 mil. Euro, double against the first nine months of 2012, when they got 146 million euro on the sales on foreign markets, stated at the conference Mediafax Talks about Agriculture, the minister of agriculture Daniel Constantin. The minister of agriculture stated that this year there was a huge production of wheat and lower prices than last year, when there was generalised draught and the prices almost doubled against 2011. ‘There are big fluctuations of price, given by the market. The state cannot intervene with mechanisms of storage. We can intervene only at the level of the production and we will try to have more relevant help from the state budget. Romania exported wheat worth 300 million euro this year, against 146 million euro in the first nine months of 2012’ the minister said. The vicechairman of the League of Agricultural Producers Associations of Romania Nicolae Sitaru told the minister of agriculture that the producers do not understand why there are so huge differences between the price on the stock exchange and the price on the farms. ‘ If last year the price for cereals was 25-30 euro at the farms’gates now is 60-70 euro at the stock exchange ‘ Sitaru said. actmedia Continue reading
