New Forests, a Sydney-based manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies, announced four initial appointments to its New Agriculture subsidiary, launched to build a global investment portfolio of agriculture assets.
New Agriculture will start with A$600 million ($402.5 million) in Australian and New Zealand agriculture assets from New Forests' A$8.7 billion in assets under management, with targeted annualized returns of 8% to 10% for that portfolio, a New Forests spokeswoman said.
Bruce King was named director of agriculture; Ben Mason joined as portfolio manager; Ben Pickles was appointed manager, operations; and Jamie Lord was named manager, investments.
Mr. King joined from the Regional Investment Corp., a government-backed specialist finance provider for farmers and farm-related small businesses, where he was CEO. A spokeswoman for RIC said Paul Dowler, executive director corporate service, has stepped in as acting CEO while a search for a permanent replacement is conducted.
Mr. Mason joined from Roc Partners, a Sydney-based alternatives investment firm where he was vice president, agriculture. A Roc Partners spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Mr. Pickles most recently was finance business partner-operations and investments with Birtinya Queensland-based food company Kilcoy Global Foods. A KGF spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Mr. Lord has served as a manager, agriculture, with New Forests since 2013, overseeing the firm's agriculture assets.
In May, New Forests announced that Mitsui & Co. and Nomura Group had agreed to acquire 100% of New Forests equity. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
