Chris Janiec
Chris Janiec is Americas Editor at Agri Investor. Based in New York, Janiec coordinates coverage of private investment into global food and agriculture with colleagues in London. Previously, Janiec covered non-bank capital markets for PEI’s Private Debt Investor, taught international relations and US foreign policy at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing and worked as an analyst of petroleum and shipping markets in New York.
Investment officer Pushpam Jain says the pension’s exposure to commodities alerted it to opportunities in farmland markets it had tracked since 2018, which ultimately led to more than $500m in TIAA secondaries deals.
At least one LP reports intention to divest from NCH Capital’s Russia and Ukraine-focused agribusiness investments as quickly as possible.
The $71.6bn pension is undertaking a multi-year strategy to replace infrastructure and natural resource equities with private investments.
Principal Ryan Ramsey says a limited pool of buyers helps make the nascent secondaries market an exciting space within agriculture.
The firm, which rebranded from Private Advisors this year, closed its latest vehicle focusing on the asset class in April.
Advisor Townsend recommends the $24.3bn sovereign wealth fund to turn its attention to 'unique situations' such as secondaries.
Aether Real Assets SONJ Fund will seek to outperform the Bloomberg Commodity Index by at least 12% through primary funds, secondaries and co-investments.
The investment from the Swiss pension includes a commitment to the firm's timberland fund which focuses on secondaries.