May 1-2, 2018
Convene Conference Center - New York City
**The Convene Conference Center is located in the TIAA-CREF building located at 730 Third Ave. A valid ID is required to enter the building. Please allow an extra few minutes to obtain your pass to the building.
Senior Vice President, Analytics
RISI
Founder, CEO and CIO
The Rohatyn Group
The Rohatyn Group (TRG) is a specialized asset management firm founded in 2002 with presence in 18 cities around the world and capabilities across private equity & credit, forestry & agriculture, infrastructure & renewable energy and public markets. While the company’s focus is on emerging markets, in 2017 it acquired GMO Renewable Resources, a leading manager of global investments in timberland and agriculture. TRG believes that “Powerful secular dynamics, including growth of the middle class, increasing urbanization, and access to sustainable resources, underpin opportunities in emerging markets as well as forestry and agriculture.”
Managing Director and Head of Nuveen Natural Resources
Nuveen
Discussion will take a comparative view of farmland and timberland investment strategies, assessing risks/returns and opportunities.
Vice President and Director of U.S. Investments and Operations
Forest Investment Associates
This presentation will focus on (1) the current structure of the TIMO space in North America, (2) recent history and expectations looking forward, and (3) a few observations about private placement versus public timberland investments.
Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer
Campbell Global
Vertically-integrated ownership of timberlands and forest products manufacturing can add substantial value for institutional investors, but under what set of circumstances? This presentation will highlight key strategic considerations, using a Campbell Global case study.
Head of Capital Strategies, Sustainable Finance Team
JP Morgan Chase
Sustainable investments represent a growing percentage of total global assets under management. This investor universe is hungry for assets that advance environmental and social initiatives. What are the opportunities for the forestry industry to tap this investor base?
Portfolio Manager Forestry
IKEA Group Financial Asset Management
The presentation will introduce IKEA Group investments into forestland, which is part of the Financial Asset Management.
Director
MPR3 Consulting
The presentation will review the timberland investment strategies for Family Offices investors.
CEO
The Forest Company
Chairman of the Board
Häggblom & Partners Ltd.
Looking at Europe from a South American perspective puts the differences in risk reward in a new perspective, issues for discussion are:
Principal
Pöyry Management Consulting
Plantation investments in Asia have been traditionally focused on supplying demands of the pulp industry. Declining natural forest supplies in combination with strong demand however is creating alternate investment possibilities for solidwood plantations for sawntimber & plywood in the region.
The presentation will address:
Wall Street Analyst
Vertical Research Partners
The publicly-traded US timber REITs have returned 50%-100% over the past two years, besting the performance of the major indexes. We believe the early 2016 lows represented a mis-pricing anomaly emanating from the brief, though intense, US commodity deflation fear of that period. We say “anomaly” given the generally-positive response seen in timber REIT valuations in response to lower inflation and longer-term interest rates seen in the era of the US timber REIT that began in 1999. Despite the increase in longer-term interest rates over the past year, the timber REIT stocks have continued to perform well as investors focus has shifted to shorter-term factors. Further intermediate-term gains from here will largely be a function of M&A developments, investor perception of performance, changes in long-term interest rates, and demand growth for wood fiber.
CEO and Managing Director
China Forestry Group, New Zealand
China Forestry Group Corporation (CFGC) was established in 1996 and started operating in 2001 under the State Forestry Administration. It is the commercial arm of the Chinese Government forestry department.
Since 2013, China National Forest Products (as a subsidiary of CFGC) commenced international investment in forests and logistics solutions to support global sourcing of logs and lumber.
The focus of this presentation is to highlight a new paradigm for global forest investors: increasing focus on the China market and associated supply chains as a primary reason for forestry investments.
The presentation will also include a discussion of the relative China market benefits of supply from the Pacific North West, USA South East, Uruguay/Brazil and Australia-New Zealand.
Director
Dana Limited, New Zealand
**The Convene Conference Center is located in the TIAA-CREF building located at 730 Third Ave. A valid ID is required to enter the building. Please allow an extra few minutes to obtain your pass to the building.
Founding Partner
Gasparini, De Cresci e Nogueira de Lima Advogados
CEO
New Forests
Since the Paris agreement in 2015, forests and land use have emerged as a key policy area related to action on climate change, second only to the transition to renewable energy and electrification. The presentation will review the background to forest and land use climate policy and how this will provide growing opportunities for forestry investors.
CEO
Proteak Uno, S.A.B. de C.V.
Principal
Criterion Africa Partners
With a very favorable demand-supply trajectory for wood and forest products, Sub-Saharan Africa has the capacity to absorb significantly more capital than has historically been invested in the region.
Real and perceived African risks and poor historical results from greenfield investments may explain why there have been limited investments by institutional investors in the region.
Does this “buyers’ market” condition for African timberland assets create a compelling opportunity? If so, how? With reduced return expectations for timber investors globally, should Africa be part of the global timberland portfolio?
This presentation will discuss CAP’s “contrarian” investment approach in Africa, and provide specific examples and results. Topics to be addressed include:
• CAP’s investment strategies to take advantage of African market fundamentals and inefficiencies while being committed to commercial, environmental, and social sustainability
• Value creation opportunities in Africa and parallels to historical TIMO return drivers
• Key success factors for timberland investors in Africa
Director
Pike Consultora Forestal (Pike & Company)
Managing Director
The Forestland Group
COO
Forest First Colombia S.A.S.
Our speakers will discuss institutional investment in timberland in Latin America by focusing on their experiences in Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Central America.
Co-Managing Partner
Encourage Capital
Data is emerging to demonstrate that monetizing natural capital can meaningfully enhance returns on real assets, and meet the growing demand for so-called “impact investment” products. Encourage has been operating in the natural capital markets for more than a decade, touching on the markets for mitigation and conservation banking, water, and carbon by working with TIMO’s and other landowners to realize value from ecosystem services. This presentation will provide an overview of natural capital markets and share some specific examples for how timber owners especially can benefit from California’s regulated market for carbon credits.
Managing Partner
SLM Partners
Ireland is emerging as a new destination for forestry investment. At the same time, Continuous Cover Forestry is being increasingly embraced as a commercially viable alternative to clearfell-replant systems, with many environmental benefits. The presentation will explore this geography and management approach, in the context of a new sustainable forestry fund that has been established in Ireland with the backing of institutional investors.
Vice President Forestry & Natural Resource Consulting
Sewall
Bret Vicary, VP of Sewall on its Investor Survey results for acquisition IRR premia vs. US timber investments, for more than 40 country/region/species options.
Chief Economic Advisor
RISI
Growth in world paper demand is accelerating along with the general economies. Packaging and tissue continue to lead the upswing while graphic papers are still declining, albeit less rapidly. Pulp usage is being boosted by tightening environmental policies in China.
Principal Economist, North American Timber
RISI
Markets are cyclical. In August 2017, the Financial Times posted an article highlighting RISI's claim that the long-term outlook for the timber asset class is positive, introducing what RISI refers to as a potential "depression echo." We start by highlighting that the depression in US solid wood product demand and the consequent low pricing for timber in some producing regions has never been so deep for so long. We postulate that this unique market cycle will have distinctive consequences in the future which includes a potential timber shortage over the long-term. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how the seeds are already being sown for sawlog prices to eventually return to inspiring levels for the timber asset class.
Senior Economist
RISI
The recovery in the US housing market has been restrained in the last few years, but indicators point to greater growth ahead. The strongest evidence yet that housing is ready for higher construction levels is the complete absence of excess inventory. Shelter prices are rising rapidly as a result and vacancy rates are hovering near historic lows. Meanwhile, household formations have only recently approached their historic trend, leaving pent-up demand for shelter at extraordinarily high levels. The main obstacle to higher construction levels continues to be supply side impediments, which should ease in response to stronger pricing and demand. The pace of the recovery in the US housing market will be a key determinant in the outlook for demand for softwood lumber and structural panels produced in the USA and Canada.
Director, International Timber
RISI
China has been by far the world’s largest log import market, for both softwood and hardwood logs. However, the industry is changing rapidly, and President Xi’s agenda will drive further dramatic changes in China’s demand for imported logs and lumber in the decade ahead. This talk will summarize findings of a new RISI forecast on China’s timber import demand.
A number of pension funds and TIMOs have invested in forests where the woodchip export market represents an important component of financial returns. This talk will also highlight major changes coming in the important Asian woodchip import markets.
Director
Dana Limited, New Zealand
