LONDON, May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Stafford Capital Partners is pleased to announce today that a major Korean pension fund has invested USD $200m into the firm's flagship SIT X timberland fund.  The investment is accompanied by a further $100m co-investment sidecar vehicle.  

Commenting on the new mandate, Stafford Capital Partners CEO Angus Whiteley said today that accelerating support for timberland as an asset class illustrated the growing net zero aspirations of forward thing institutional investors globally.

"We are experiencing globally significant support for this asset class, with important recent investments into SIT X from the UK, North America, Korea and Europe."

"With investor focus on the carbon sequestration potential of commercial timber growing, we expect interest in this asset class to only accelerate, providing a significant potential first mover advantage for institutional investors who are looking at timberland now as part of their alternatives strategy."   

"We believe we are uniquely positioned to offer impactful, discounted access to timberland assets through pooled investment vehicles and co-investment opportunities."

Commitments to the tenth Stafford International Timberland fund (SIT X) have now reached USD $635m, with considerable forward momentum. Over 2023 Stafford raised USD $945m across our secondaries and carbon strategies, a globally significant figure.

The Fund was launched in January 2023 with a USD 1bn fundraising target. It achieved first close in March 2023 and is expected to hold a final close during Q3 2024.  The fund has already deployed over USD$160m from the raise, illustrating the strong investment pipeline in the space.

With over USD 3.7bn AUM across over 100 underlying assets, Stafford's timberland portfolio has provided consistent and strong returns as well as a meaningful contribution towards investors' climate targets and high standards of sustainability. The underlying timberland fund portfolio currently stores more than 316.8 MtCO2e of carbon and sequesters 16.6 MtCO2e of carbon each year on an ongoing basis.

About Stafford Capital Partners

Stafford is an independent private markets investment and advisory firm with USD 7.9 billion in assets under management and advice for more than 150 institutional clients worldwide. Founded in 2000, Stafford has a global team of 85+ professionals investing in infrastructure, timberland & agriculture, and sustainable private equity through secondaries, primaries, and co-investments. Stafford has been a UN PRI signatory since 2010 and has committed to the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. It puts sustainability at the centre of its investment process and implements a well-defined ESG program across all strategies. In the UK, Stafford is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number: 225586).

This is a marketing communication. Please refer to the relevant fund documentation for Stafford Infrastructure Secondaries Fund V (Available in English, in the Fund's Virtual Data Room upon request) before making any final investment decisions.

This release neither constitutes an offer to sell nor a solicitation to invest in any of Stafford's funds. It is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation. It does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to invest in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale would be prohibited or to any person not meeting the required investor criteria.

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