Australian fund manager New Forests recently announced the final close of the New Forests Australia New Zealand Forest Fund 2 (“ANZFF2”), with total capital commitments of AU$707 million. ANZFF2 is a closed-end fund that builds on the success of New Forests’ first regional timberland fund which completed its acquisitions program in 2013.
New Forests was established in 2005 as a specialist sustainable forestry investment manager and now manages AU$2.3 billion in forestry, rural land, and environmental markets investments. The ANZFF2 investment mandate targets acquisition of both hardwood and softwood timber plantation investments in Australia and New Zealand, and the fund can also acquire infrastructure or processing assets associated with the plantation investments.
“We are delighted with the support we have received from our clients in this fundraising,” said the company’s CEO David Brand. He explained, “New Forests has been focused on satisfying the increasing demand for real assets from institutional investors. The timber plantation base of Australia and New Zealand has been steadily evolving over the past 15 years from government, corporate, and retail managed investment scheme ownership to largely institutional ownership. This transition reflects increasing recognition that forestry assets have relatively low correlation with other financial assets, have low volatility, and generate perpetual cash flows when managed sustainably. The hardwood and softwood plantations of Australia and New Zealand are world class assets, with low technical risk and well developed infrastructure, and provide our clients with market exposure to growing Asian demand for timber, panels, pulp and paper, and other bio-materials.”
