Braemar dumps farmland fund float
PROPERTY investment group Braemar has been forced to dump plans to float its agricultural land fund on the stock market, because of a lack of investor interest.
The Hale-based company wanted to raise up to £20m in its initial public offering, and the fund was due to start trading this month.
But Braemar UK Agricultural Land will remain unquoted after it failed to reach even its minimum target of £5m.
The fund would now look at other options to raise cash, possibly from private investors or by buying land for shares.
The proceeds of a float would have been used to acquire additional plots of bare arable land which will be farmed to produce a range of crops suitable for use in food, animal feed or bio-fuel production.
The land would be farmed by contractors rather than let to tenants, to remove the risk of tenant default.
The fund was set up in December 2007 to give investors the opportunity to invest in the UK farming market. The fund’s first big purchase, in November 2008, was 310 acres of arable land in Lincolnshire, which is being farmed by the company.
