By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
Montreal, Canada-based Fiera Comox Partners, a global investment manager specializing in agriculture, timberland, private equity and private credit, has announced the acquisition of 6,650 acres of private timberlands in the U.S. The assets are located in temperate coastal Oregon, comprising one of the top and highly competitive softwood-producing regions in the world and producing close to 100 percent of Douglas Fir, a premium tree variety. Fiera Comox boasts $3 billion in assets under management as of June 2024.
Fiera Comox said the forests have had the advantage of decades of sustainable forest management practices and will now gain the added benefit of the firm’s “boots-on-the-ground” operating experience, including at team that oversees 1.5 million-plus timberland acres under management.
The latest acquisition comes on the heels of Fiera Comox’s recent partnership with with Ngāi Tahu Holdings relating to Ngāi Tahu’s forestry estate on the West Coast of New Zealand, South Island. Through that deal, Fiera Comox is acquiring a majority 85 percent interest in the joint venture while Ngāi Tahu will hold a 15 percent stake.
With 50 percent of the world’s GDP dependent on nature in some way, natural capital’s profile as an investment segment has been on the rise. Fiera Comox explains in its ag and timberland asset class spotlight report that “natural capital applies an economic lens to the world’s stock of natural assets such as land, forests, soils and water and how society and businesses rely on them to function.”
There’s no shortage of ways for investors to gain access to this burgeoning market, whether it’s directly into forests or farmland, private equity investments, farmland management companies, or through carbon mitigation offsets. Allocations to natural capital provide diversification, stability and risk-adjusted, low-volatility returns on top of a cash yield, per the report.
Of the latest timberland deal, Fiera Comox Partner and CEO Antoine Bisson-McLernon stated, “We are very excited to grow our Natural Capital portfolio with a leading timberland estate in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, coming on the heels of our previously announced joint venture transaction in New Zealand. Taken together, these assets provide geographic diversification and direct exposure to the US and Pacific Rim end-product markets.”
Fiera Comox, Partner, Vice Chair and Head of Natural Capital Jeff Zweig said, “We are thrilled to complete
the acquisition of this strategically located timberland asset. We look forward to driving improved operating and sustainability outcomes to generate value for our investors.”
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