Harvard endowment alumni raise $279m for timber, agri

The founders of Folium Capital have rounded up 17 investors for their inaugural timber fund, with 13 committed to their debut agriculture vehicle.

Boston-based Folium Capital has raised about $279 million for forestry and agriculture investments across four different structures, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The largest of the vehicles, Folium Timber Fund I, has garnered $101.835 million from 17 investors, according to the documents. A related vehicle, Folium Timber Fund I Parallel, has collected $48 million from eight LPs.

Folium Agriculture Fund I, the firm’s main agri vehicle, has now raised $80.875 million from 13 investors. Like its timber counterpart, Folium Agriculture Fund I Parallel is endowed with $48 million from eight institutions.

The news signals progress for Folium’s inaugural suite of pooled funds, all of which were launched last year and are incorporated in Delaware. Documents filed in August 2016 suggest FTF I and FAF I had both raised $50 million from two LPs a year ago, with their Parallel equivalents collecting $21.333 million from two investors at the same date.

It is not clear whether Folium is still seeking to raise capital for these funds. The filings all say that the respective offerings are not intended to last more than one year.

Folium Capital could not be reached for comment.

The firm was founded last year by Andrew Wiltshire, formerly head of forestry and natural resources at Harvard Management Company, jointly with Oliver Grantham and Alvaro Aguirre, who also came from the $36 billion university endowment.

As of last July, the trio was reportedly seeking to raise $250 million each to target agriculture and timberland, focusing on North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Nordics and Australasia.