Powerful data. Expert insight.
Unique results.
Who we are
Farrer Capital is an Australian headquartered hedge fund, specialising in the trading of global agricultural commodity markets, using a fundamental, relative value approach, enhanced by a proprietary quantitative investment process.
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Established in Q4 2023 and backed by several prominent Australian investors, Farrer Capital’s founders have unrivalled agricultural sector expertise with a multi-decade track record for the some of the world's largest asset allocators in alpha generation and risk mitigation across both the derivative and physical commodity markets.
Alongside our domain expertise in global agriculture, we will harness proprietary technology to deliver a highly sophisticated quantitative edge to our strategies.
Volatility Creates Opportunity
Geopolitical tensions, rerouting of trade flows, structural shifts in renewable energy demand, and the increasing frequency and severity of supply side shocks due to climate change, will increasingly offer attractive risk-adjusted trading opportunities.
Investment Approach
We identify the best uses of capital in global private and public commodity markets to generate superior long-term returns for the most sophisticated global institutional investors.
Our Competitive Advantage
Our investment philosophy is rooted in a profound understanding of the fundamentals of commodity markets.
Our investment team formulates strategies based on comprehensive, data-driven insights that guide our investment decisions.
Utilizing a robust investment process characterized by meticulous big data analysis and ML forecasting, this collaborative approach is designed to consistently generate alpha, irrespective of market fluctuations.
Strategies
1. Farrer Capital: Global Commodities Fund
Shortly launching, our flagship institutional Cayman fund, the Farrer Capital Global Commodities Fund, provides intelligent and targeted exposure to global agricultural commodity markets, using a fundamental, relative value approach, enhanced by a proprietary quantitative investment process.
The fund focuses on delivering sustainable uncorrelated returns in both derivatives and physical investments. The fund targets a Sharpe Ratio exceeding 1.4 with annualized volatility targets of 10-15%.
We express our investment perspectives through a variety of channels, including financial derivatives, physical supply and off-take agreements, and strategic financing. This multifaceted approach allows us to adapt and respond effectively to the dynamic nature of the markets we engage with.
The fund focuses on delivering sustainable uncorrelated returns in both derivatives and physical investments. The fund targets a Sharpe Ratio exceeding 1.4 with annualized volatility targets of 10-15%.
We express our investment perspectives through a variety of channels, including financial derivatives, physical supply and off-take agreements, and strategic financing. This multifaceted approach allows us to adapt and respond effectively to the dynamic nature of the markets we engage with.
2. Managed Futures
Farrer Capital offers tailored managed accounts to select clients via Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) on attractive liquidity terms.
3. Special Opportunities
Farrer Capital offers Special Opportunity trades via Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to existing clients.
These are high conviction opportunities that are often capacity constrained with returns that are asymmetric in nature.
Typically, these are expressed in global physical commodity markets.
These are high conviction opportunities that are often capacity constrained with returns that are asymmetric in nature.
Typically, these are expressed in global physical commodity markets.
The Team
Adam Davis
Chief Investment Officer
Adam Davis is Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Farrer Capital. He has more than 20 years’ experience in global commodity investment, and an extensive track record in building and executing profitable trading strategies. The former Head of Commodities Trading at Merricks Capital (2008-2023), Adam led the firm’s Soft Commodity Fund from its 2008 inception to over $600m AUM. He also developed numerous special opportunity funds trading relative value strategies in derivatives, OTC, and physical commodity markets across the globe.
Adam’s investment philosophy prioritises capital preservation, sourcing investment opportunities with attributes of limited downside risk, strong base case return with asymmetric upside opportunity. He has a Bachelor of Business (Finance) from Charles Sturt University and is a Melbourne Business School, Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) candidate.
Adam’s investment philosophy prioritises capital preservation, sourcing investment opportunities with attributes of limited downside risk, strong base case return with asymmetric upside opportunity. He has a Bachelor of Business (Finance) from Charles Sturt University and is a Melbourne Business School, Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) candidate.
Alistair Fullerton
Chief Operating Officer
Alistair Fullerton is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Farrer Capital. Al is an Asian commodity market and agricultural technology specialist, with over two decades of experience in public and private markets. From 2003-2013 he worked in the financial markets across institutional debt, FX, derivatives and equity markets in Australia and Asia. Pivoting to private markets in 2013, Al founded, built and ran a number of physical commodity strategies and companies in Asia across agriculture, renewable energy and biofuels.
Returning to Australia in 2019, Al has worked in agricultural funds management, across venture capital, global equities and commodities, both physical and derivative. He acts as an advisor to several Australian Government agricultural departments and holds a Postgraduate Degree in the Global Food and Agriculture Industry from the Royal Agricultural University in the UK.
Returning to Australia in 2019, Al has worked in agricultural funds management, across venture capital, global equities and commodities, both physical and derivative. He acts as an advisor to several Australian Government agricultural departments and holds a Postgraduate Degree in the Global Food and Agriculture Industry from the Royal Agricultural University in the UK.
Les Finemore
Portfolio Manager
Les Finemore is Co-founder and Portfolio Manager at Farrer Capital, and has more than 10 years’ experience in financial and commodity markets. He began his career as a physical trader at Gavilon before working as a research agronomist in the Australian agriculture industry. With a unique depth and breadth of global experience, he possesses a rare skill set combination, fusing a powerful understanding of global financial markets and extensive agronomic knowledge, with machine learning and big data.
Les spent a number of years as a trader and analyst at Merricks Capital before utilising his distinct expertise to establish a new quantitative hedge fund. As Founder and CIO of Imbue Capital – a leading quantitative commodity-focused hedge fund – he led the investment team for four years, successfully trading across agriculture, energy and metals. Imbue combined the power of deep domain expertise in global markets with true big data to identify and capitalise on market inefficiencies that were previously almost impossible to detect. Les has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Charles Sturt University and a Master’s of Finance from Curtain University (WA).
Les spent a number of years as a trader and analyst at Merricks Capital before utilising his distinct expertise to establish a new quantitative hedge fund. As Founder and CIO of Imbue Capital – a leading quantitative commodity-focused hedge fund – he led the investment team for four years, successfully trading across agriculture, energy and metals. Imbue combined the power of deep domain expertise in global markets with true big data to identify and capitalise on market inefficiencies that were previously almost impossible to detect. Les has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Charles Sturt University and a Master’s of Finance from Curtain University (WA).
Shawn Unger
Senior Quantitative Researcher
Shawn Unger is the Senior Quantitative Researcher at Farrer Capital, blending a robust technical academic background with a deep understanding of fundamental market drivers and industry practice. Favouring transparent methodologies over black box approaches, he leverages machine learning and statistical modelling for portfolio constructions, utilising fundamentally driven signals for alpha generation.
Shawn honed his skills at Millennium Capital Management, contributing in building and managing a systematic L/S quantitative portfolio. He also developed alternative data products for hedge funds at Nasdaq, and worked in the fundamental equity team at Greystone (acquired by TD Asset Management) on several portfolios which were fundamentally driven, with an enhancing quant overlay. He has a Master’s of Science (Statistics) and Bachelor of Science (equivalent of a Triple Major in Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics) from the University of Toronto.
Shawn honed his skills at Millennium Capital Management, contributing in building and managing a systematic L/S quantitative portfolio. He also developed alternative data products for hedge funds at Nasdaq, and worked in the fundamental equity team at Greystone (acquired by TD Asset Management) on several portfolios which were fundamentally driven, with an enhancing quant overlay. He has a Master’s of Science (Statistics) and Bachelor of Science (equivalent of a Triple Major in Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics) from the University of Toronto.
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