National Pension Service Invests in Forest Land for Investment Diversification

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] The National Pension Service Fund Management Headquarters announced on the 18th that it has made its first investment in timberland as part of global alternative investments to enhance stable long-term returns.

Under the fund's investment diversification strategy, the National Pension Service has been striving to develop new sources of income and plans to invest $150 million through Stafford Capital's fund in the globally high-interest forestry sector.

The timberland investment aims to secure stable returns from a long-term perspective through the acquisition of forest land, timber cultivation, and logging, and also contributes to reducing carbon dioxide by increasing additional forest creation and the supply of eco-friendly materials such as wood.

The fund in which the National Pension Service is investing this time is Stafford Capital's ninth timberland specialized fund (Stafford International Timberland IX), which invests in major forestry countries such as the United States and Australia.

Stafford Capital, established in 2000, is a timberland specialized asset manager with approximately 70 employees across eight global offices including its London headquarters, managing about $2.7 billion in timberland assets.

Ahn Hyo-jun, head of the Fund Management Headquarters, said, "The National Pension Service has been striving to discover new investment destinations to diversify its investment portfolio and has started investing in the timberland sector after careful consideration over a considerable period." He added, "Timberland investment aligns with the National Pension Service's investment philosophy of pursuing stable long-term returns and is highly attractive from the perspective of sustainability investment, which has become a global trend, and is expected to contribute to improving the fund's returns."

As of the end of November 2020, the National Pension Service manages a fund amounting to KRW 807.3 trillion (provisional), of which overseas alternative investment assets account for about 8.1% of the total fund assets, approximately KRW 65.2 trillion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.