Foresight Sustain. - Announcement of two acquisitions, now 91% deployed

Foresight Sustainable Forestry

24/03/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 8025F  Foresight Sustain. Forestry Co PLC  24 March 2022

24 March 2022

 

Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc

 

Announcement of two acquisitions, now 91% deployed

 

Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc ("FSF", "the Company"), an
investment company that invests in UK forestry and afforestation assets, today
announces the acquisitions of two afforestation sites, Burn of Bellyhack and
Red Craig & Glen Burn. The sites are both located in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, and have a total area of 359 hectares, increasing the total area of
FSF's portfolio to 8,474 hectares. The pair of properties were acquired for
£5.47m in aggregate (inclusive of tax and other transaction costs).

 

Following the acquisitions, the percentage (by value) of afforestation sites
in the portfolio has increased to 33%. Successfully developing land for
afforestation (which drives returns through capital appreciation and access to
voluntary carbon credits) is a core part of FSF's strategy. The acquisitions
mean that FSF has now utilised 91% of the IPO proceeds and is on course to be
fully deployed once the current pipeline of assets in exclusivity transact.

 

Burn of Bellyhack Acquisition

 

On 9 March 2022, FSF completed the acquisition of Burn of Bellyhack. The site
is located near Huntly, Scotland. The local area is well known for highly
productive commercial forests and the site has excellent afforestation
potential in addition to an already established small woodland. Burn of
Bellyhack has a total area of 174 hectares capable of supporting a commercial
woodland creation scheme.

 

Red Craig & Glen Burn Acquisition

 

On 18 March 2022, FSF completed the acquisition of the Red Craig & Glen
Burn. The sites, two parcels of non-contiguous land, are also located near
Huntly, Scotland. The properties consist of improved grazing and pastureland,
with excellent potential to sustain a commercial afforestation scheme. The
properties have a total area of 185 hectares in aggregate and are capable of
supporting woodland creation schemes.

 

Both acquired sites are currently unconsented for tree planting. Consulting
closely with the local community, FSF will now further develop the preferred
planting designs and will progress the afforestation development and
application process in line with national and regional regulations. Under
FSF's ownership, the afforestation sites are expected to deliver material
biodiversity improvements. An independent ecologist will be appointed to
evaluate the impact on biodiversity of the finalised scheme's design using the
UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs'
Biodiversity Metric 3.0 methodology.

 

Robert Guest, Co-Head of Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company, commented:

"Since the listing of FSF last November, the Company has continued to build on
the positive momentum seen in recent months. To add two further acquisitions
so shortly after the completion of the Seed Assets Transaction underlines
FSF's ability to act quickly when attractive opportunities are originated.
Both sites have strong potential to grow a broad range of different trees at
high yield classes and are well-located to deliver a renewable supply of
sustainable timber to local wood processing facilities. These acquisitions are
another step towards our target of increasing the overall percentage of
afforestation assets by value in our portfolio to 40-50%".

 

About the Company

Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc ("the Company") is an externally
managed investment company investing in a diversified portfolio of UK forestry
and afforestation assets. Targeting a net total return of more than CPI +5%,
the Company provides investors with the opportunity for real returns and
capital appreciation driven by the prevailing global imbalance between supply
and demand for timber; the inflation-protection qualities of UK land
freeholds; and biological tree growth of 3% to 4% not correlated to financial
markets. It also offers outstanding sustainability and ESG attributes and
access to carbon units related to carbon sequestration from new afforestation
planting. The Company targets value creation as the afforestation projects
successfully achieve development milestones in the process of converting open
ground into established commercial forest and woodland areas. The Company is
seeking to make a direct contribution in the fight against climate change
through forestry and afforestation carbon sequestration initiatives and to
preserve and proactively enhance natural capital and biodiversity across its
portfolio. It is managed by Foresight Group LLP.
https://fsfc.foresightgroup.eu/ (https://fsfc.foresightgroup.eu/)

 

For further information, please contact:

 Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc         +44 20 3667 8100

 Robert Guest

 Richard Kelly

 fsfc@foresightgroup.eu

 Jefferies International Limited                    +44 20 7029 8000

 Neil Winward

 Will Soutar

 Citigate Dewe Rogerson

 Toby Moore (toby.moore@citigatedewerogerson.com)   +44 7768 981763

 

This announcement does not constitute, and may not be construed as, an offer
to sell or an invitation to purchase investments of any description, or the
provision of investment advice by any party. No information set out in this
announcement is intended to form the basis of any contract of sale, investment
decision or any decision to purchase securities in the Company.

 

This announcement may include statements that are, or may be deemed to be,
"forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms
"believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will",
"targeting" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations
or comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical
facts included in this announcement, including, without limitation, those
regarding the Company's financial position, strategy, plans, proposed
acquisitions and objectives, are forward-looking statements.

 

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