February 6, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Campbell Global, the wholly owned timber investment manager of J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives, advised investors and has led the acquisition of more than 250,000 acres of commercial timberland across three properties in the Southeastern region of the U.S., through a deal valued at more than $500 million.

J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives, which is the alternative investment arm of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, acquired Campbell Global in August 2021. Based in Portland, Oregon, the group has a reputation as being a pioneer in timberland management, having managed more than 5 million acres on a global scale for pension funds, foundation, and varied institutional investors since its founding.

This experience will be leveraged to continue to manage these newly acquired properties for both carbon capture and timber production.

“These acquisitions will give our clients access to sustainably managed forests that leverage our more than 40 years’ experience in timberland management,” said John Gilleland, CEO, Campbell Global. 

Encompassed in this deal, which is one of the largest of its type in the past decade, are approximately 120 million standing trees, more than 700 miles of streams protected by 30,000 acres of riparian forests that serve to sustain water resources and provide wildlife habitats for greater biodiversity, and more than 250,000 acres of diversity wildlife habitat for recreational purposes. 

“This transaction is one of the largest of its type in the past decade and builds on efforts to expand our asset class offering across alternatives by offering investors access to a robust carbon sequestration and timber management platform,” said Anton Pil, global head, J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives. “We are committed to harnessing the extensive forest management expertise of Campbell Global to offer our clients the unique ESG benefits associated with timberland assets.”

A regional focus on the U.S. South has pervaded timberland deals in recent years. Known as the U.S. “wood basket” the region is responsible for more than 55 percent of the country’s timber harvest by volume, and produces more wood products than any country on Earth except the U.S. Some additional examples include:

In November 2021, global investment group Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and The Westervelt Company announced the creation of a new strategic partnership and the acquisition of 76,000 acres of high-quality pine timberland in Georgia from family-owned Superior Pine Products.

In February 2022, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPPB) completed a redemption transaction through Tamarack Timberlands LLC, an investment vehicle owned by the pension fund, with mortgage holder Resource Management Service (RMS) assuming direct ownership and full governance of approximately 870,000 acres of loblolly pine forest spread across the U.S. Southeast.

In March 2022, Atlanta-based Domain Capital Group announced that its subsidiary, Domain Timber Advisors, had acquired 1,672 acres of timberland, called Whitewater Creek, in the western region of the state of Georgia. 

And in November 2022, it was announced that Rayonier Inc. entered into two agreements to acquire 172,400 acres of commercial timberland in Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana from Manulife Investment Management for $474 million. 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.