Stafford Capital Partners welcomes South Korea’s NPS as a timber investor
February 18, 2021
Stafford Capital Partners (“Stafford”), the London-based Real Assets and Private Markets investment firm announced today that it has formed a new partnership with the National Pension Service of Korea (“NPS”) to invest in the global timberland strategies.
By investing into SIT IX, Stafford’s ninth flagship timberland fund, NPS will get exposure to a diverse global timberland portfolio acquired mainly through a secondaries investment strategy. SIT IX will also implement other investment strategies including co-investments and primaries into timberland funds. Launched in August 2019, SIT IX has already committed USD 208 million into seven investments across the US, Australia and New Zealand. SIT IX is currently targeting USD 750 million of commitments with the final close in April this year.
“NPS’ investment into SIT IX comes at an opportune time as we continue to see growing consumer demand for sustainable products.” said Stephen Addicott, Managing Partner of Timberland at Stafford. “With a 17-year track record in timberland management, we are pleased to see that an increasing number of large institutional investors around the world are identifying the attractive combination of financial returns and sustainability benefits that an investment in timberland provides.”
“We recognize commercial and environmental benefits of timberland investments in the shift of living environment based on our study of this particular sector for past several years” said Hyo-Joon Ahn, Chief Investment Officer of the NPS. “NPS commitment to timberland is well aligned with our strategy to enhance sustainability of our global portfolio. It will also help to diversify alternative investment assets with risk-adjusted return.”
Investments into mature timberland assets provide consistent annual yields from timber harvesting and capital growth through log price appreciation, land appreciation and increases in standing volumes. Global demand for timberland products has consistently grown over the past 50 years and the sustainable nature of timber products should enhance this demand over the next 10-20 years.
For more information, please contact Stafford Investor Relations:
Email: InvestorRelations@staffordcp.com
About Stafford Capital Partners: Stafford Capital Partners (“Stafford”) is an independent private markets investment and advisory firm with more than USD %%AuM%%bn in assets under management and advice* for more than %%numClients%% institutional clients worldwide. Founded in 2000, we are a global team of 70+ professionals investing in timberland, infrastructure, agriculture & food, sustainable private equity and private credit through secondaries, primaries, and co-investments. As UN PRI signatory since 2010 we put sustainability at the centre of our investment process and implement a well-defined ESG program across all strategies.
* As of 30 September 2023
About National Pension Service of Korea: The National Pension Service of Korea (“NPS”) is the world’s third-largest pension fund with approximately KRW 807.3 trillion of assets under management as of November 2020. NPS manages its funds investing in financial investment assets both of domestic and global, while diversifying the investment portfolio into equities and alternative asset classes including real estate, private equity and infrastructure.