Canada Pension Plan adds Canadian Farmland to its investment Portfolio for the First Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, ATTENTION INVESTMENT EDITORS – December 12, 2013 - Calgary

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) recently acquired 115,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland for $128 million.  According to André Bourbonnais CPP's senior vice-president of private investments “Farmland is an attractive asset class that has historically delivered stable, risk-adjusted returns and the global outlook for agriculture in general is positive due to increasing demand for agricultural products… Farmland is an attractive asset class that has historically delivered stable, risk-adjusted returns and the global outlook for agriculture in general is positive due to increasing demand for agricultural products… Farmland investments align well with CPPIB's long-term investment strategy while also further diversifying our portfolio.”

Farmland continues to gain attention as a useful portfolio addition for pensions and family offices - investors with long-term horizons and who seek stable returns and unique portfolio diversifiers.  CPP's investment represents one of the first forays by a large Canadian institutional investor into domestic farmland investments and bodes well for the future of the Canadian market.

About Agcapita:  Agcapita believes that farmland funds continue to show great appeal to conservative investors concerned with inflation and the volatility of their existing public equity investments. Farmland has similar inflation hedging qualities to gold but with an ongoing cash yield that gold lacks. Farmland returns have exhibited low volatility and this combined with higher absolute returns equate to a favorable Sharpe ratio. Agcapita’s funds directly hold diversified portfolios of farmland in western Canada, and in particular in the highly price competitive province of Saskatchewan.  Agcapita’s fund’s give investors the benefit of a direct investment in farmland combined with a model of front-end loaded cash rents. Agcapita believes farmland is a safe investment, that supply is shrinking and that unprecedented demand for "food, feed and fuel" will continue to move crop prices higher over the long-term. Agcapita is one of Canada's most experienced farmland fund managers, launching its first fund in Q1 2008.

This news release may contain certain information that is forward looking and, by its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to important risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate,""expect," "may," "should" "estimate," "project," "outlook," "forecast" or other similar words are used to identify such forward looking information. Those forward-looking statements herein made by

Agcapita, if any, reflect Agcapita's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made (including, without limitation, that (i) the demand for agricultural commodities will continue to grow at a pace that is unlikely to be matched by growth in agricultural productivity, and (ii) investment demand for tangible assets such as agricultural commodities and farmland will continue to increase for the foreseeable future). Actual results or events may differ from those anticipated or predicted in these forward-looking statements, and the differences may be material. Factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: risks associated with the ownership and operation of farmland, including fluctuations in interest rates, rental rates and vacancy rates; general economic conditions; local real estate markets; supply and demand for farmland; competition for available farmland; weather; crop diseases; the price of grain and other agricultural commodities; changes in legislation and the regulatory environment; and international trade and global political conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information contained in this news release (if any), which is given as of the date it is expressed herein. Agcapita's undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

*All returns quoted in the update reports are 1) unrealized valuations based on a range of internal estimates drawn from market comparables and the audited financial statements and 2) are estimated past performance and do not guarantee future results. Future realized returns may differ. Performance shown does not include performance fee payable to the investment manager and would have been lower had this been taken into account. Data, except where otherwise indicated, is current as of December 31, 2012.