Plantations still leading agribusiness investment
Gunns Plantation Woodlot Project has topped the Adviser Edge Top 10 agribusiness investment list for the third time after scoring four and half stars from the specialist researcher.
However Gunns had to share the limelight with Willmotts Forest project andRural Funds Management’s chicken investment scheme which also received the same ranking.
Adviser Edge managing director Shane Kelly says that providing a Top 10 list offers an important benchmark for advisers.
“This year’s Top 10 really reflects how the industry has improved in the past two years. Prior to 2003, we would have struggled to fill half the Top 10 with four-star products, whereas now a four-star rating is no guarantee of making the list.”
The other Top 10 projects, all rated four stars, were the ITC Pulpwood Project, RFM Vineyard Fund, Timbercorp’s Almond and Eucalypts Projects, Macquarie Forestry Investment, Environvest Beef Cattle Project and Margaret River Watershed Wines.
The Top 10 list was created out of the 32 agribusiness projects assessed by the researcher this year.
Kelly says products rated by his company dominate the agribusiness investment market which he expects will raise about $500 million this year.
“Our aim is to provide full market coverage, ensuring advisers have access to the best products for their client,” he says.
“At this time of the year investors need guidance and our job is to match the needs of dealer groups with the right products.”
Kelly expects some fund managers to close projects off early this year as they meet their subscription levels, a move that is reflecting investors’ positive sentiment to the sector.
“Gunns has filled both of its forestry investment products, while Timbercorp has closed off its ongoing payment eucalypt project,” he says.
“This is the main reason for managers marketing more products as it allows then to protect hard-won distribution networks.”
Nearly all of the projects listed in the Top 10 are tax-effective schemes, with RFM’s chicken and vineyard funds being the only non tax-effective manager represented in the list.
The top 10 list comes in stark contract to competing agribusiness ratings groupAAGwho stated last week it would not be releasing its list for 2004 claiming it was “dangerous and archaic.”
AAG says its’ “ratings stand on their own merit. They don't need to be further refined by sorting into a further ‘best of’ type list.”
The group also stated such a list could encourage investments for the wrong reasons and in the past had been misappropriated by the media and not reflect the status of the market.
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