Friday Finance with Charles Beigbeder

CANCELLED EVENT - After two decades of underinvestment and disappointing returns, commodities are an asset class that has made a strong comeback over the past 5 years. After precious metals, could it be the turn of agricultural commodities, as suggested by the recent surges in wheat, cotton and sugar prices?

What are the fundamental factors that justify investing in this sector today: underinvestment, soil depletion, the impact of climate change, demographic pressure, technological innovations? To what extent is the commodities adventure influenced by monetary factors? What rates of return on investment can we expect? Aren't rising land prices eroding return prospects? In which parts of the world does agricultural investment look most promising?

After a spell at Matra, Charles Beigbeder moved into market finance. He took advantage of the development of the Internet in the late 1990s to found Selftrade, which he sold in 2002. The same ambition then led him to create Poweo (electricity and gas operator). Since 2007, Charles Beigbeder has been developing new activities within his Gravitation holding company in the fields of green growth, financial services, new media and leisure. In particular, he founded AgroGeneration, a producer of agricultural raw materials. Its activities are focused on the Ukraine, with the aim of cultivating 100,000 hectares in the country by 2012. The group's strategy is to bring fallow land back into cultivation and restructure former kolkhoz facilities, which have suffered from underinvestment over the past 15 years.