Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) has approved a A$350m (€223.9m) commitment to Laguna Bay Fund 2, an agriculture fund seeking to raise A$750m.
The $156bn pension fund told IPE Real Assets that the fund fits into the upstream and midstream agriculture segments of WSIB’s tangible asset framework with the potential for “modest exposure to downstream agriculture through vertically integrated agribusinesses”.
The fund’s manager Laguna Bay is an investment firm known for specialising in food and agriculture in the Australasian region.
The fund is expected to invest in upstream and midstream agriculture investments in row crops, permanent crops, livestock, water and aquaculture.
WSIB’s latest commitment follows a A$250m commitment it made in 2015 to Laguna Bay’s first fund.
The pension fund’s latest commitment was placed into its tangible assets portfolio, an $8.6bn (€7.4bn) portfolio focused mainly on agriculture, minerals/mining and energy investment opportunities.
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