Alternative agriculture manager Kilter Rural, backed by Regal Funds Management, has made a 22.28 per cent return on its water fund after prices for permanent water entitlements in south-eastern Australia surged to record highs.

Its straight play on water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin came in higher than its Murray-Darling Basin balanced water fund, an impact investment vehicle launched with the Nature Conservancy in 2015 to invest in permanent water entitlements and restore threatened wetlands.