New fund launch for GO.FARM

Ten years into it’s infancy, Liam Lenaghan’s GO.FARM business is boosting it’s portfolio across the board. Hear their next moves on The Australian Ag Podcast here.

Ten years on from founding GO.FARM, founder and managing director Liam Lenaghan is taking the business to a new level, with the launch of its new Responsible Agriculture Fund.

“Every lane and back road you drive up in rural Australia you’ll find assets that aren’t operating at their optimal level … so we’re motivated to find the best of those opportunities to turn them around into something productive for the good of the communities in which they sit,” Mr Lenaghan told the Australian Ag Podcast.

With GO.FARM’s announcement of a $300 million capital raise in launching their new RAF,

Mr Lenaghan said it would be a “stand-alone vehicle” with the intention of acquiring new assets without creating conflicts between existing investors and investments.

“We’re looking to do our bit. We can’t do it all, but we think businesses like ours have a responsibility to get involved, and hunt down those opportunities, bring new capital into agriculture and unlock that productivity,” he said.

The news of the new fund comes in a big year already for GO.FARM, which earlier this year inked a deal for Qantas Super to invest $200 million in some of GO.FARM’s assets.

“Our sense is that there is growing interest from domestic institutional capital (to invest in Australian agriculture),” he said.

“As society’s expectations for the way land is managed and the way food is produced has changed, I think institutional capital are sitting up and paying attention to their members who are expressing views about these things.”

Mr Lenaghan said the modern day investor cannot be generalised, with funding interest coming from many different areas.

“We’re seeing family farms continue to invest, wealth networks, domestic institutions, as well as overseas pensions, insurers and sovereign wealth funds.

“So there’s a wide pool of capital that is investing in Australian agriculture, and I think that’s really healthy for the industry.”

You can listen to the full interview with Liam Lenaghan on the Australian Ag Podcast at theweeklytimes.com.au, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.