Climate Asset Management, a company specialising in natural capital asset management, has reached an agreement to buy Spanish firm Borges' agricultural business. This involves a total of 1,900 hectares of agricultural land located in Spain and Portugal, 1,640 hectares of which correspond to productive orchards.

The deal was closed through the company's Natural Capital Strategy (NCS). This is the fourth large-scale regenerative agriculture project it has acquired, and the third on the Iberian Peninsula. The new property is divided into fourteen crops producing almonds, walnuts and pistachios in Badajoz, Granada and Portoalegre (Portugal). It will complement its existing portfolio of almond, olive and macadamia trees.

Crop management practices
Climate Asset Management was founded in 2020 as a joint venture between UK fund managers HSBC Asset Management and Pollination. NCS aims to acquire brownfield projects and transition to a regenerative management strategy. On this occasion, it has decided  to partner for a second time with the Spanish company Bolschare Agriculture, specialised in the management of walnut tree crops, and for which it will rely on the staff currently working on the farms.

Working with crops will provide a valuable source of data to assess the outcome of regenerative management practices. Essentially, the new practices will consist of introducing cover crops (secondary crops aimed at improving soil quality to reinforce the main crop), improving soil organic matter, increasing soil resilience, making water use more efficient and reducing the use of synthetic chemicals. In addition, over 10% of the land will be managed solely to promote biodiversity and encourage native flora and fauna.

Following this operation, Borges Agriculture & Industrial Nuts, one of the largest nut processing companies in Spain, is divesting its agricultural business to focus on its core business, the industrial and commercial side, with a focus on innovation, sustainability and internationalisation.

Opportunities in natural capital
NCS Chief Investment Officer Ben O'Donnell assessed the introduction of pistachios and walnuts into his portfolio and said, "We should be able to see the difference that introducing regenerative practices makes compared to historical farm performance. It is clear that there is a growing appetite among institutional investors for opportunities in natural capital to rebalance positive and net-zero nature-oriented investment portfolios."

Bolschare Agriculture CEO Pedro Foles added, "We are excited to have the opportunity to grow our partnership with Climate Asset Management and to participate in this large-scale diversified brownfield project that will have a major positive impact on our portfolio, as well as helping our two companies grow together towards a net-zero carbon future."

^{Photo: Borges}