Determinering Fund style for Food & Agriculture (Land) Investments

Food & Agri Real Assets Management is to become the leading global arranger of unlisted investment vehicles in the agricultural resources sector. Its intends to launch a series of Food & Agri Real Assets Management funds structured at regional level (e.g. South America, Australasia and Europe) over the next 2-3 years. Food & Agri Real Assets Management will focus on setting up funds in those regional markets which are believed to offer probability of long term financial success for investors in terms of risk/return balance. In the investment industry Farmland Investment funds are a new (alternative) asset class and (potential) investors find it difficult to give these funds a place in their Asset Liability Model (ALM). Investors intend to allocate investments according to their ALM (risk vs. return) and therefore need to understand the risks that are embedded in this new asset class / type of investment. There is not yet a fund style available in this alternative asset class specifically for Farmland Investments. Following the Regulative Cycle as methodological design, the aim of this thesis is to create a Fund Style Framework – and by doing this – find a way to make Farmland Investment funds attractive for investors by analyzing the risk and returns involved.