By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
North Sydney, Australia-based investment manager New Forests, which specializes in nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies, has made a new acquisition, expanding the fund’s presence in Southeast Asia. The Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2 has acquired a majority stake in Burapha Agro-Forestry, a Laos-based timber plantation forestry company. Led by New Forests, the investment marked the third acquisition for Fund 2 and also extended to co-investor Mirova, a Paris, France-based sustainable asset manager, through its Sustainable Land Use strategy.
The Burapha plantation includes 6,000 hectares (14,826 acres) of planted forest complemented by conservation areas, a plywood mill and voluntary carbon project that is dedicated to plantation afforestation, reforestation and revegetation issuing carbon credits. New Forests’ acquisition aligns with its strategy to gain an integrated and scaled exposure in Laos, which in addition to Burapha includes a separate investment in Mekong Timber Plantations.
According to the Burapha Agro-Forestry website, the plantation specializes in planting eucalyptus in a sustainable way for the future of Laos. They are targeting a plantation base big enough for the Asian country to develop as a forest-industry nation, delivering income to local farmers as well as to investors.
Through Burapha, New Forests gains access to nearly 85,000 hectares (210,039 acres), 15,000 hectares (37,065 acres) of which are planted area. New Forests is also eyeing an expansion of the plantation forest areas along with plans to grow its voluntary carbon project, which already has traction. This strategic growth aims to deliver both enhanced socio-economic benefits for local communities and a positive environmental impact, per New Forests.
New Forests Asia Senior Managing Director Geoffrey Seeto stated, “We are delighted to be growing our allocation to Laos through this investment in Burapha Agro-Forestry, which is already highly regarded for its agroforestry and wood processing processes and local community engagement work. Laos’ availability of land, combined with possessing highly conducive biological growth conditions, and being strategically located in near proximity to areas of significant wood deficit, makes it an attractive investment destination.”
Burapha Agro-Forestry CEO Przemyslaw Pruszynski commented, “This is an exciting development for Burapha…We are extremely pleased to be partnering up with New Forests to continue on our mission to create a plantation base large enough for Laos to develop as a leading forest industry nation. Our objective is to support the long-term protection and reforestation and management of our land that can benefit current and future generations.”
New Forests oversees A$11.7 billion (US$7.4 billion) in assets under management across 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of land across forestry, agriculture and natural capital. Earlier this year, New Forests partnered with Oji Holdings for the launch of the Future Forests Innovation Fund, including a $300 investment from Oji Holdings along with a co-investment from New Forests.
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.