

The FIM Sustainable Timber and Energy Fund has closed a top-up round of fundraising on £32 million ($50 million; €40.2 million) ahead of a £25 million target.
The fund is now on £118 million in total and is closed for the foreseeable future, according to George Krempels, fund manager at FIM Services, the UK-based forestry and wind farm asset manager.
FIM re-opened fundraising for the 10-year fund earlier this year after a second close on £83 million in November 2013. Its first close in 2010 was on £39 million.
Evident from the pace at which investment picked up since the fund’s 2010 launch, FIM has noticed an impressive uptick in demand from high net worth investors, the target client base of this fund. The average commitment size to this fund is £150,000.
But FIM is also getting interest from the institutional investor world and launched an institutional investor-focused fund offering in September.
FIM Sustainable Timber and Energy Fund invests 80 percent of its assets into forestry and 20 percent into wind farms. The wind farms produce the majority of a 3 percent annual distribution to shareholders, although some of the timber is harvested to contribute.
The fund targets a 7 percent annual return although since inception it has returned closer to 15 percent, according to Krempels. The firm charges a 2 percent participation fee, 2 percent on any capital deployed and a 0.5 percent a year management fee. When it comes to selling the assets, FIM charges 2 percent on the sale value.