The Washington State Investment Board is ploughing more capital into the US water and agriculture sectors.
The US pension fund is to commit up to $200m (€178m) to Resonance Asset Management’s Industrial Water Infrastructure fund and Homestead Capital’s USA Farmland Fund II.
Both commitments were approved by the pension fund on 1 September and will be put forward for full approval on 15 September.
Resonance, which invests in infrastructure on a non-US and international basis, plans to invest evenly in Europe and Asia.
It will focus on industrial water-recycling and treatment infrastructure.
Resonance raised $300m for the fund in July, with backing from six investors in the UK, the US and the Nordics.
The fund will invest in 10-15 water assets in $10m-15m deals.
The $53bn global industrial water treatment industry is expected to grow annually by 8.6% until 2021, according to a Global Market Intelligence Report last year.
Homestead Capital will look to complete transactions in the Mountain West, Pacific, Midwest and Delta regions of the US, focusing on agricultural crop land.
Assets in need of capital improvements, better farm management and efficient crop selection and rotation will be targeted by the manager.
