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Insight adds to farmland flock Sarah Krouse 24 Oct 2013 Insight Investment has added a new farmland investment role to its team of experts in the sector, amid increased investor interest in farm assets. Insight adds to farmland flockThe asset manager has hired the former chief executive of farm investor NZ Farming Systems Uruguay to the newly created role of head of farmland management to help oversee its growing portfolio. David Beca will join later this year and be based out of London. Beca joins an eight-member team that works on farmland investments at Insight and will be responsible for overseeing the on-the-ground management of its farmland assets. The expansion of the investment team comes amid strong returns from rural land in the UK and globally. Beca has worked in a number of markets including Australia, Uruguay and South Africa for farmland investment, consulting and business analysis companies. Insight began its farmland strategy in 2011. The firm’s portfolio of investments includes a New Zealand dairy farm, a cattle station in northern Australia and arable farm assets in Romania. Other members of the team specialise in topics such as livestock and arable land and are based in a number of locations including Australia and Germany. Insight’s expansion of the team comes as it attempts to take advantage of increased investor interest in the asset class. The sector is touted as an attractive option for investors looking to diversify and boasts stronger returns than commercial property. Rural land in the UK, for example, has significantly outperformed commercial property in the country over the last five, 10 and 20 years, according to analytics firm Investment Property Databank. Rural land returned 8.9% compared with 0.7% for all property over five years; 13.2% compared with 6.3% property-wide over 10 years; and 13% compared with 8.9% for all property assets over 20 years. Beca will report to Martin Davies, head of farmland investments at Insight. Within the firm, the farmland investment team sits under specialist investments, a unit led by Reza Vishkai, who joined the firm in 2005. Beca said in a statement: “The development Taylor Scott International
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