Portuguese Forest Fund to Invest €100 Million in Sustainable Forestry

30 October 2019 Portugal’s Securities Market Commission has approved the Portuguese Forest Fund (PFF). The fund is a joint venture by Lynx Asset Managers, Smart Forest, a forest management company, and Crowe, a ​​financial advisory firm. The long-term fund is seeking to raise a total of €100 million to invest in Portuguese forests.

The note from the fund stated that the PFF would seek to plant and manage a 50,000-hectare forest made up of slow-growing and native tree species. The fund will have an initial investment horizon of 20 years, though that could be extended to a total of 40 years.

The PFF added that “as in northern Europe and the United States, the creation of a forest fund in Portugal is … a response to the emerging need to combat climate change, reorder and enhance [Portugal’s] forests, restore and preserve forest ecosystems, promote biodiversity, reduce the risk of fire, boost the rural area and also address the need to strengthen the hydrological cycle.

A multidisciplinary team with over 25 years of experience in forest management, alternative investment fund management, capital markets and energy founded Smart Forest in 2017.

Original Story: Jornal Econômico – Nuno Miguel Silva

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner