Aquila Capital, the Hamburg-based alternative investment company, is expanding its position in the agricultural investment space with the appointment of seven highly-experienced ‘farmers who speak finance’.

The expanded team enables Aquila Capital to meet a growing demand for a globally diversified portfolio of agricultural investment solutions.
 
Aquila Capital has an advisory team whose background lies in farming rather than in the financial industry. The team is therefore strongly placed to provide high-level advice and insight into the fast developing trends in the global agricultural arena.
 
The expansion of its agricultural team is designed to widen Aquila Capital’s reach beyond its successful New Zealand and Australian agricultural investment businesses. Aquila Capital is reinforcing its presence in South America and the Canadian, US and Eastern European markets. As before, the focus lies on pastoral sheep, beef and dairy farming as well as arable farming including sugar cane.
 
The team will continue to be led by Detlef Schoen (pictured), who has spearheaded Aquila Capital’s agriculture investment operations since 2007. The team will be headquartered in Singapore in order to further strengthen Aquila Capital’s global reach and presence in the region, with regional management companies being established in New Zealand, Australia, Romania and Uruguay - with further branches in the pipeline.
 
The new team members will widen Aquila Capital’s geographic and sector expertise. Andrew Watters and Grant Rowan, partners at leading pastoral farming manager AGInvest in New Zealand, join as partners with global responsibility for dairy farm investments and all farm investments in New Zealand. Jesper Brunhoj Jensen will be responsible for Eastern Europe and arable farming; David Cornish will lead the agricultural business in Australia; Fernando Rovira Cuervo will head up the Uruguayan and Chilean operations; Paulo Murray will represent the team in Brazil, Eric Bosveld in Canada and the US. Eike Schoen-Petersen, an existing member of Aquila Capital’s agricultural asset management team, will continue his global responsibility for the sheep and beef sector.
 
Detlef Schoen, Managing Partner, Farm Investments, Aquila Capital, says: “Aquila Capital is delighted to announce the addition of several highly experienced farmers who speak finance to our team. Each of the new team members bring a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the agriculture sector and its drivers, as well as strong relationships with farmers and agribusiness specialists. The team is entirely unique in that they are able to translate the macro view down to the guy driving the tractor and understand every step of the way from production methods, agribusiness value chains and commodity cycles to how to generate alpha through increased productivity. 
 
“We have seen a significant rise in demand for agricultural investment solutions by institutional investors and are close to closing an agricultural fund that is tailored specifically to cater to this  demand. This move enables us to offer further innovative investment solutions that meet the demand for competitive uncorrelated returns in the agricultural investment space.”
 
Aquila Capital’s agriculture team provides asset allocation, consulting and asset management services on a global basis, offering investors a broad range of agricultural investment opportunities across a range of regions, sectors and strategies -  from “satellite view” all the way down to single farm selection, due diligence and management.