INVL Baltic Forests Fund I ends its activities with a 27% annual rate of return

The INVL Baltic Forests Fund I managed by INVL Asset Management, one of the leading asset management companies in Lithuania, sold its portfolio, which consisted of 1,300 hectares of forests in Lithuania, for EUR 7.5 million, and locked in a 27% average annual rate of return (IRR) for investors. Šiluona UAB, the company that owned the fund’s entire forest portfolio, was acquired by Latvian Forest Company AB.

Launched in 2017, the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I invested in forests suitable for forestry activities in the Baltics, mainly Lithuania, and focused heavily on developing a sustainable Lithuanian forest market. It strove to create a consolidated group of forest parcels, thus increasing their value and the potential income.

“It was the INVL group’s first fund to apply sustainable forestry management principles. We successfully realized the fund’s ambitions and now its lifecycle of nearly 5 years is ending with a return that exceeds the target rate several times over,” said Sigita Bizulienė, the manager of the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I.

“In the area of sustainable alternative investments, we aim to create long-term benefits for investors, so their investments not just brings financial return but also be sustainable and meet ever-increasing environmental, social and governance criteria. That’s why we are going to continue this activity, focusing on the INVL Sustainable Timberland and Farmland Fund II (STAFF II) established a year ago, which is more universal and has a much broader geography,” said Vytautas Plunksnis, the Head of Private Equity at INVL Asset Management.

“After this success selling the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I and the resulting impressive returns for our investors, we intend to become one of the leading and most investor-trusted funds in the European Union working with sustainable, alternative investments that not only create real long-term benefits for our investors but also protect nature for future generations. That is a fundamental part of the STAFF II investment philosophy,” said Martynas Samulionis, chairman of the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I investment committee and STAFF II’s managing partner.

In June, STAFF II announced it had raised EUR 18.5 million in a second offering to reach a size of EUR 51 million – more than half the initial overall target of EUR 100 million. A distribution of the fund is currently underway, with closure envisaged in the first half of next year.

The STAFF II fund has already invested in the Baltic countries and plans later to expand its portfolio by investing in sustainably developed forest and farmland in the Baltic Sea region and countries of Central and Eastern Europe that belong to the European Union, which offer an attractive investment return and a stable regulatory environment. The fund has a strong focus on the sustainable management of forests and farmland in terms of not just nature preservation but also social responsibility. It bases its activities on sustainable forestry standards and promotes the implementation of sustainable farming principles on agricultural land.

Launched in the second half of 2020, the fund is administered by the Apex Group, one of Europe’s largest providers of fund services, and is intended for institutional and private investors from EU countries. The fund operates under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and invests in individual countries in keeping with the regulatory restrictions set by those countries.