Pela Terra farmland investment
Moderator edit: Fund name corrected.
When I was looking mid-2021 prior to the 350 ā 500k Investment Threshold changes I investigated them.
I had confidence they were trustworthy and would largely do what they say and I really respected them for the time they put into the NomadGate community with their webinars BUT it just wasnāt the right investment for me.
The investor supposedly gets a fixed return, which is great in low-inflation environments if 2021, but pretty poor if after 2021 inflation increased (and it did!).
However itās better than a 0% growth/dividend option (like many invest in here) where youāre effectively losing 3-7%/year in opportunity cost (over 100k EUR over the 10 year investment).
Hi aainslie,
We chose to invest in the Pela Terra Fund (Dec 2021). In the 18 months we have been invested, their communication and transparency has been very good.
I live in the US and if I wanted the BEST ROI for 350k/500k euros, I am not sure I would invest in Portugal, which is a relatively unknown market to me. Having said that when we were applying for the GV program, my primary interest at that time was capital preservation, realizing this was not as much an āinvestmentā as it was a vehicle for the GV. With that in mind and the uncertainties and volatility of of real estate fund investments, you cant get much safer than buying/leasing basic agricultural farm land. If I had to do it over again, I would make the same choice.
Regards,
Roger
We also invested in Pela Terra. It was about 66% of our total investment. The investment premise makes sense to us, and we support the fundās theme of using organic farmland to produce healthy food for Portugal and other EU countries. Too early to tell how it will work out, but the managers seem ethical and experienced.
Kenton
I agree with the above comments about the Pela Terra investment and the responsiveness of the management there.
I wonder if anyone has heard whether this investment fund will be allowed under the new PGV rules or will be disqualified as a real estate investment?
I have the same question about the changes in the GV program.
Just received an information email from Pela Terra that says IMPORTANT: The Portuguese government has announced it will continue to accept Golden Visa applicants who invest in venture funds such as Pela Terra. Real estate investors will no longer qualify for the visa. Contact us for more details.
Can someone confirm that it may be true?
Perhaps theyāve had some sort of guidance. The law allows āorganismos de investimento coletivo nĆ£o imobiliĆ”riosā (ānon-real estate collective investment undertakingsā), but from an outsiderās perspective Iām not sure whether itās clear that āimobiliĆ”riosā excludes farmland. (The distinction in earlier drafts of the law between venture capital funds and investment funds, which their email seems to be hinting at, was removed.)
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I believe they have had some legal guidance leading them to this conclusion. Personally I think itās a bit early to say anything definitive, even though I wouldnāt be surprised if it turns out that theyāre correct.
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Hi Kenton, can I ask you - for the US, the annual distribution from the fund - what type of income is that classified as for US returns - is it dividend (higher tax rate) or long term capital distributions (lower rate)? Basically I am trying to understand just the ātypeā of income the yearly return is classified as - thanks!
Good question. We havent had a distribution yet. In the US arenāt divs and cap gains both taxed at 15%?
Kenton - well yeah guess it does depend on whether itās qualified or non-qualified it could be the same or higher - but thats whatās important to know is how to classify this income - the fund manager mentions the income at Portugal is classified as rendimentos de capitais where residents pay a 10% tax but I am unable to find the āright classificationā of this type of income.
If I may ask you, Kenton, did you invest into Class B (<350k) or Class C (>=350k) - one weird thing I see in the fund 2 document was excess returns on top of the 5% were distributed in greater amount to Class B (ones with smaller capital risk) versus Class C - this I found a bit odd. Are you invested into the initial first fund or the new fund 2?
As a layman that does their own taxes and thus has a cursory knowledge - ārendimentos de capitaisā sure sounds like dividend to me, but definitely talk with a lawyer if you donāt want to get bit
Per Alex, their founder at Pela Terra, they said this was more like capital gains since a resident would pay 10% on such gains, this was what was communicated to me.