Timberland Investment Resources Europe (TIR) is seeking to raise $250m (€257m) for a sustainable forestry and natural capital fund which will invest in US assets.

The manager said the Sustainable Forestry & Natural Capital Fund, which has been launched for pension funds and institutional investors, will mainly invest in the southern part of US.

The fund will target working forests that have the potential to generate “long-term asset appreciation and ongoing cashflow while also providing investors with tangible environmental returns”.

TIR said the fund, which targets an 8-9% per annum return and annual distributions in the range of 3%, will have an initial term of 10 years and investors will have the option to remain invested for an additional 5-year period or to liquidate their positions in the fund.

Hugh Humfrey, a partner at Timberland Investment Resources Europe, said: “TIR has a strong history of acquiring and managing working forest assets for global institutional and high-net-worth investors for nearly 20 years.

”Forests are a tangible and natural ESG investment and this fund will produce environmental and social benefits that can be monetized or utilised directly by the Fund’s investors to achieve their own ESG objectives.”

Humfrey added that the environmental and social benefits of timberland investing are now widely recognised and moving to a mainstream investment as institutions look to achieve their ESG. Furthermore, the fund will be an Article 9 offering under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

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