By Alice Uribe

SYDNEY--Macquarie Group Ltd. has entered into an agreement to divest itself of its longest-running cropping portfolio to two global fund managers, as the portfolio has concluded its 10-year investment mandate.

After a six-month public tender process, Macquarie Group's Macquarie Asset Management said Monday that it reached an agreement for Sydney-based global investment manager New Forests and Canada's largest institutional investment manager Alberta Investment Management Corp., on behalf of certain clients, to acquire Lawson Grains Pty. Ltd.

"This transaction demonstrates the natural evolution of agriculture as an increasingly mature and attractive alternative investment class," said Liz O'Leary, Macquarie Asset Management's head of agriculture.

"Realizing this successful investment will enable our business to look ahead to the next opportunity," she said.

Macquarie Asset Management manages U.S.-based Macquarie Crop Partners, a private unlisted investment fund that owns the Lawson Grains asset. It said it is divesting itself of Lawson Grains at the conclusion of a 10-year investment mandate with its investors.

Macquarie Asset Management wouldn't comment on New Forests and Alberta Investment Management Corp.'s agreed sale price, saying that all commercial terms are confidential.

Lawson Grains was established in 2010 and is now one of Australia's largest corporate grain growers. The portfolio covers around 90,500 hectares of arable agricultural land estate across New South Wales and Western Australia states.

It is one of Australia's largest grains and oilseeds businesses, producing more than 200,000 metric tons a year of wheat, barley, canola and pulses.

Under the transaction, there will be no significant changes to the Albury-based management team, which was built by Macquarie Asset Management as it looked to set the business up for its next phase of ownership.

Despite the divestment, Macquarie Asset Management said it retains a "significant presence" in Australian agriculture, maintaining a second cropping portfolio called Viridis Ag and a livestock portfolio, Paraway Pastoral Co.

The completion of this acquisition is subject to the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board's approval.

Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-06-21 0008ET