Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, has taken a stake in South American farmland venture Adecoagro following the firm’s US initial public offering.
The Gulf fund agreed to buy stock equal to about 25 percent of proceeds in the IPO, which raised $314m for Adecoagro.
The initial offering comes as commodity prices rally and food prices reach record highs.
Adecoagro, which is backed by billionaire investor George Soros, produces sugar, coffee, soybeans, corn, rice and milk in farms in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
Proceeds will be used to build a sugar and ethanol processing plant in Brazil and to buy farmland, Adecoagro said in its SEC filing.
The sugar mill will process about 11 million tonnes of sugar cane a year and will be one of the biggest in Brazil, according to the company’s website. The total cost of the mill is $1bn. About $690mn is needed to complete the mill, Adecoagro said.
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