Deal: The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has made an equity investment in the Macquarie Pastoral Fund.

Value: $75 million

Area: Finance

Key players: The Herbert Smith Freehills team comprised partner Fiona Smedley and special counsel Yorick Ng.

Deal significance: According to a statement provided by Herbert Smith Freehills, this equity investment commitment was made together with the Macquarie-owned Paraway Pastoral Company (Paraway). The commitment seeks to reduce methane intensity in the agricultural sector by at least 30 per cent by 2030.

“CEFC intends for Paraway, as the fund’s manager, to use CEFC’s investment to trial new technologies and practices to reduce emissions, and progress will be shared with other industry stakeholders,” the firm’s statement added.

Commenting further off the back of the deal, Herbert Smith Freehills partner Fiona Smedley said: “We are proud to continue supporting the CEFC in undertaking its important clean energy investment work, this time in the agricultural sector, a sector which contributes to a significant proportion of Australia’s emissions.

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“This investment adds to the growing pool of institutional investments we are seeing that are driving innovation and leadership in sustainable and energy-efficient practices.”

Special counsel Yorick Ng added: “Congratulations to the CEFC on this important cornerstone investment in the Macquarie Pastoral Fund and on its collaboration with Paraway.

“Emissions reduction in the agriculture sector is more challenging than in other sectors, and we commend CEFC’s continued leadership in this investment space.”