But this time I'm sure there will be some sort of "natural asset company" angle becoming apparent.
From Top 1000 Funds, October 19:
Dutch, British and Australian funds latest to back timberland
A consortium of APG, the asset manager for Dutch pension fund ABP, the UK’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and Australian superannuation fund UniSuper have just acquired one of the largest forestry operations in Australia, each owning a 33 per cent stake in the business.
The transaction, one of the largest single investments into Asia-Pacific’s forestry sector includes a land portfolio in Tasmania and one of the largest plantation forest estates in Australia. It combines a large-scale sustainable investment with compelling risk-adjusted returns, says Ben Avery, senior portfolio manager at APG.
The trio are the latest institutional investors to go after forestry assets. Nest, the United Kingdom’s £30 billion defined contribution scheme has begun the formal process of appointing one or more fund managers to help its 12 million members invest in timberland.
Timberland, says the pension fund, shows low correlation with traditional stocks and bonds and is resilient to shorter term-market dynamics – for example, timberland managers can delay harvesting times if wood prices are low. Returns from timberland also tend to have a strong correlation to long term inflation trends. Many other investors including Church Commissioners for England, New Zealand Super and the Swedish AP funds have been investing in timberland for years.
“We’ve been exploring ways to include natural capital investments into our portfolio as we continue to diversify our private markets allocation, take advantage of complex and scarce investment opportunities, and to decarbonise as we move closer to net zero targets. Timberland ticks all of these boxes,” says Stephen O’Neill, head of private markets at Nest. “The performance of timberland speaks for itself. It’s offered stable total returns underpinned by strong cash yields and should play a complementary role in our portfolio alongside our other illiquid investments.”....
