Canada’s Public Service Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has teamed up with an Australian partner to buy agricultural and water assets from Webster for AUD$132.7m (€84.8m).
Listed agribusiness group Webster said PSP Investments and its partner have acquired a 19% stake in the company.
PSP has formed a venture known as AFF with an Australian family business led by David Robinson. AFF has bought Webster’s Bengerang assets, which include farms and water entitlements in northern NSW.
Properties held by Bengerang comprise almost 9,600 hectares of developed irrigated land. Webster acquired the holdings for AUD124m in 2015.
It was agreed with the incoming investor that Webster would retain rights to proceeds of the 2018 cotton crop.
As at March 31, 2018, PSP Investments had C$4.8bn (€3.22bn) invested in natural resources, made up of 52.3% in timberland and 36.1% in agriculture. 60.7% of these assets are located in Australia and New Zealand, with 34.5% in North America.
Last July, the partners acquired two properties in the Northern Territory for about AUD50m.
