Farm investment opportunity opens

New Zealand Rural Land Company (NZRLC) is seeking to raise between $75 and $150 million and list on the NZX Market on 18 December 2020. 

NZRLC says it will provide investors with exposure to rural land as an asset class without direct exposure to agricultural operations and commodity price volatility.

“The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of New Zealand Rural Land Company offers investors a differentiated investment proposition to what is currently available on the NZX Market and in what is a very low interest rate environment,” says director of NZRLC Chris Swasbrook.

He claims that by separating land ownership from agricultural operations, it increases capital efficiency for tenants and allows investors to own only the rural land.

“We consider that there is long-term value in rural land and that coupling that value with regular and long-term lease payments makes this structure an attractive way to access one of the New Zealand’s largest and most important asset classes.”

Swasbrook says the establishment of New Zealand’s first NZX-listed agricultural property company that owns rural land and leases (long-term) to farmers and food producers allows investors to indirectly access ownership of an easy-to-understand land asset.

“Rural land is the backbone of New Zealand. We see the New Zealand Rural Land Company as providing further support to our world class agricultural sector and offering it additional stability with long-term capital and New Zealand ownership.”