Timberland fofs close

Stafford Timberland has reached a first and final close on Stafford International Timberland Fund III (SIT III) of US$120m from investors in the UK, continental Europe and Australia. SIT III is a specialist timberland fund-of-funds investing in both primary timberland investments and acquiring secondary positions.

Richard Bowley, co-founder of Stafford, said: “There is increasing interest in timberland as forestry offers the twin attractiveness of being both income producing and uncorrelated with financial assets. This enables institutions who are seeking diversification from the traditional asset classes a range of new solutions.”

Stafford has appointed Candela Capital in the UK to help with the placement of future funds. Geoff Norman and Richard Bowley established fund-of-funds manager Stafford Timberland in September 2002. It has US$250m under management in separately managed and advisory accounts.