Media release: 8th August 2022
Entering its eighteenth year of operations, leading Australian natural capital investment company Kilter Rural has released its end of financial year results for its open water funds.
The Kilter Water Fund returns of 22.28% highlight the strength of the investment portfolio of permanent water entitlements supported by strong leasing covenants with irrigators.
The Murray Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund delivered returns of 17.47% while making one of the largest ever private environmental water donations in Australian history. These exceptional results highlight the continued success of Kilter Rural’s strategy when it comes to investing in natural capital.
The Kilter Water Fund, launched in 2014, has consistently delivered over 14% returns to investors since inception, providing a genuine alternatives strategy with low to negative correlation to equity markets. The result highlights the continuing strength of water as an investment class, driven by demand from high-value permanent horticulture plantings. The 22.28% financial year result showcases the continued strong performance of the underlying investment case and portfolio construction of the Fund.
The Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund was launched in partnership with The Nature Conservancy Australia in 2015 and is Australia’s only explicit impact water fund. It invests in southern Murray-Darling Basin water markets to support irrigation farmers with water under long-term leases, delivers impact through environmental water donations for deployment to wetlands and provides responsible returns to investors. It has delivered returns since inception of over 13% and 17.47% last financial year.
Commenting on the results, Kilter Rural CEO Cullen Gunn said today that “Kilter is experiencing unprecedented investor interest in the deployment of capital towards natural capital assets such as water, farmland and ecosystem services.
Returns from water are driven by factors not typically influencing traditional asset classes, like weather patterns, water storage levels and irrigated crop prices. Additionally, with progressive, innovative management natural capital investments can deliver tangible environmental benefits and climate mitigation outcomes.”
Kilter Rural was established in 2004 to deliver profit with impact: investing at scale in the regeneration of farmland, water and environmental assets. Kilter Rural has two open-end Water investment funds, the Kilter Water Fund and, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, the Murray Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund.
Kilter Rural has over A$300m in funds under management and, in 2019, was awarded Australian Impact Asset Manager of the Year.
For further information please call: Phil Davey +61 414 867 188.
Past performance is also no indication or guarantee of future performance.