By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY–Retirement-fund investors from Australia, the U.K. and the Netherlands have jointly acquired the largest private forest-management company in Australia’s Tasmania state.
Australia’s UniSuper, the U.K.’s Pension Protection Fund, and the Netherlands’ APG Asset Management on Thursday said they had acquired forest-manager Forico and a 420,000-acre plantation forestry estate. Each will own a third of Forico and the estate.
They acquired the assets from a fund managed by New Forests, a global investment manager of nature-based real assets. No financial terms were disclosed.
The forestry estate situated on the island of Tasmania south of mainland Australia is the largest freehold land estate in the state and a supplier of sustainable hardwood for uses including packaging and tissues.
One of Australia’s largest plantation hardwood estates by productive area, the estate owns key infrastructure along the supply chain including processing mills and port access.
“Not only is forestry a portfolio diversifier, but it also supports the global transition toward decarbonization through carbon storage as well as substitution to sustainable timber material,” UniSuper Head of Private Markets Sandra Lee said.
The estate is sequestering more than 123 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and the current plantation rotation is expected to remove from the atmosphere and sequester a further 24.7 million metric tons before it is harvested.
“Investing in the forestry asset class provides an opportunity to deliver strong returns for our pension fund client ABP and its participants, while contributing to sustainable development goals around climate action,” said Hans-Martin Aerts, head of infrastructure and natural resources at APG Asset Management Asia.
Write to Stuart Condie at [email protected]
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