UK manager grows Aussie forestry co
UK-based agribusiness manager Radicle Projects is launching a new investment company based on Australian forestry assets.
Radicle Timber Plantations will list on the AIM markets of the London Stock Exchange and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.
The fund manager plans to raise £40 million to invest in projects that can be developed on an environmentally sustainable basis.
To seed the fund, Radicle Projects will transfer all of its forestry investments into the new fund. These include its Australian Paulownia hardwood plantation and its BioForest investment, which are valued at $21 million.
Radicle Projects chief executive officer Tim Bennett said separating the forestry assets from the company would be a positive outcome for shareholders.
The parent will continue to own a stake, between 15 and 20 per cent, in the new forestry company and will earn management fees from it. The move will also enable Radicle Projects to evolve into a soft commodities manager, as it will no longer invest in forestry assets, Bennett said.
Radicle Timber will have Bennett and fellow project director Peter Johnson on the board and Myles Stewart-Hesketh will be chairman. Stewart-Hesketh is a director of a number of agri-science and investments organisations in Australia and internationally.
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