40 | Roger Dickie Forestry T T Hugh de Lacy Diversified forest fund performs well Jeff Dickie, fund manager and son of founder Roger Dickie. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT d ATSLoggingLt LoggingContractor Toby Satherley 027 865 3173 toby@atslogging.nz Amy Satherley 027 765 3179 amy@atslogging.nz Enquiries admin@atslogging.nz 021 444 811 admin@stirlinglogging.co.nz Stirling Logging Ltd Proudly supporting Roger Dickie Forestry admin@galbraithearthmovers.co.nz A plumb chance to get a slice of the lucrative New Zealand forestry action at both the carbon sequestration and harvesting stages is being offered by North Island-based forestry investment management firm Roger Dickie (NZ) Ltd. The company, the biggest of its kind in New Zealand, has been around for more than 50 years, raising investment capital for 35 of those, and managing an estate of 40,000ha of trees. The Awatea Forest Fund is seeking minimum investments of $20,000 and is well into its capital raising phase with over 150 investors already and total assets of $30 million, and it owns 1687 effective hectares of premium diversified forest assets. Its target is to have 5000ha of forest assets generating cash and capital returns through the sale of stored carbon, the harvest of trees and natural biomass growth. Since its inception the Awatea Forest Fund has provided an annual return of 13.2% on capital from the carbon it stores and the timber it harvests. After six trading quarters, the fund’s current unit price of $1.204 represents a 20.43% gain since inception, while its September 2023 quarterly fund performance was 3.48%. “Awatea provides its investors with the opportunity to own and take part in a large-scale and professionally managed forestry fund, generating real asset exposure to forestry and the long-term outlook for wood products, and to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme for the recognition and monetisation of carbon stored in the fund’s forests,” says Jeff Dickie, fund manager and son of founder Roger Dickie. “The fund is unique in the way it holds multiple assets across a number of geographic locations targeting premium assets in the renowned forest growing and service regions of New Zealand, with good proximity to services, mills and ports. “This type of diversification has proven to be very successful thus far, and allows the fund to target more regular (annual) returns to its investors through the sequestration and sale of carbon, the staggered harvesting of the forests, while also harnessing the long-term and inter-generational nature of forests.” The Awatea Forest Fund strategies also include strategies for the diversification of the timber resource by using pine, redwood and, where possible, native trees for environmental enhancement. A further focus of the fund is on liquidity through the pooling of multiple assets and a large pool of mainly mum-and-dad investors, and its offer of limited quarterly redemptions from the fund. “It’s also structured as a Multi Rate Pie Fund, a structure that many will be familiar with when it comes to investing in the likes of Kiwisaver and other managed funds,” Jeff says. “We believe that forestry has a firm place in an investment portfolio. “While it might not fill the lion’s share of a portfolio, forestry is a real and tangible asset, is renewable and has substantial climate benefits, and it’s also considered as a hedge against inflation.” Jeff says that New Zealand holds a significant natural advantage in the global timber market because trees grow here faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, which also means they’re more effective than others in absorbing and storing greenhouse gases. “Not only is timber a superior natural and renewable resource, but it is scientifically recognised as a capturer and sequesterer of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. “That means that the forests we grow are driving positive climatic change and aligned to New Zealand’s lofty commitments with respect to our carbon footprint.”
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