The San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association is recognising Timberland as an asset class separate from Real Estate and, with that recognition, is doubling the amount of money to be invested in timberland to 4% of its portfolio.
According to IPE Real Estate:
"The outcome of a recent fund board meeting was that the pension fund made two commitments to two timber commingled funds. One was a $30m ($22m euros) to the Timber Vest Partners II fund, which will be a commingled fund with a total equity raise of $600m. The investment strategy is to invest in timber in the US."
"San Bernardino County also allocated $30m to invest in GMO Long Horizons Forestry Fund. This commingled fund will have a total equity raise in the neighborhood of $300m to $350m. This investment fund will be looking for assets in the US and internationally. "
The pension fund is expecting a real rate of return of 6% over the next 10 to 20 years. Reportedly, the fund will be ready to invest another $40 to $60 million in Q1 and Q2 of next year. Read the entire article here. --Brian
San Bernardino decided to rescind their allocation to GMO, citing a conflict of interest with a certain Poplar Tree Farm partnership.
ReplyDeleteSan Bernardino provided the following clarification:
ReplyDeleteMr. Fiacco,
I would clarify to say that the primary reason for rescinding the commitment was the "potential ongoing conflicts of interest". It was not solely based on the Poplar Fund.
Thank you,
Brian Long, CFA