Asian Agri Fund Eyes Peru Palm Oil as Malaysia Runs Out of Land

Asian Agri Capital, a Singapore private-equity firm that focuses on early-stage plantations, is seeking to raise $100 million to invest in palm oil and other tropical commodities in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The Pacific Agriculture Fund will invest more than half of the money in palm-oil plantations in Peru, where the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has been supporting the cultivation of the crop and other commodities to provide former coca-growing farmers with sustainable incomes, said Bill Randall, managing director of Asian Agri. The manager, which has two earlier funds, will continue to invest in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm-oil producer, he said.