Depending on how things go with Canadian - U.S. trade talks that could be a better than average bet.
From BridgeMichigan, July 7:
- The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation owns more than 540,000 acres of land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
- The $800 billion sovereign wealth fund is the single largest owner of foreign agricultural land in Michigan
- Its complex corporate structure shows how landholders can easily mask their ownership
The government of Singapore owns more than 5% of all land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, according to federal records obtained by Bridge Michigan, making it the largest known foreign owner of agricultural land in the state.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, a state-owned sovereign wealth fund known as GIC, is listed in federal disclosures as the sole owner of more than 540,000 acres of Upper Peninsula forestland, much of which has active timber harvesting operations.
The ownership of the land, which includes a sixth of all land in Gogebic County, along the Wisconsin border, has not previously been reported.
It would not have become public, either, if the Rohatyn Group, a global private equity firm that manages the land, had limited their disclosures to what’s called for under federal rules — “three tiers” of ownership.
“These guys went out of their way to explain what they were up to,” said Patrick Schena, an expert on sovereign wealth funds and professor at Tufts University. “Not everyone may be motivated in the same way.”
Bridge sought the records through a Freedom of Information Act request as the state Legislature began to scrutinize foreign land ownership. ...
....MUCH MORE, including some other information that may be profitable to know.
