New Forests Fund 2 half deployed

Australasian timber manager New Forests has acquired a blue gum plantation estate for the A$707 million Australia New Zealand Forest Fund 2 (ANZFF2), which is now half-deployed.

The plantation will be managed as part of the fund’s Limestone Plantations, a hardwood estate it acquired in March, and includes 28 properties with approximately 5,500 hectares of net planted area located across Southwest Victoria.

ANZFF2 is expected to be fully deployed over the next 12 to 18 months and Fund 3 is likely to follow in its wake, according to a spokesperson at the firm.

The second fund closed in March this year and has made six investments in total across Australia and New Zealand including the acquisition of 175,000 hectares of Tasmanian forestry in September.

Institutional investors invested with New Forests include AP Fonden 3, the Kr258.5 billion ($37 billion; €28 billion) Swedish pension fund, an existing investor in ANZFF1.