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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f9ec02f2-d43e-11e2-a464-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2X2FIgnpQ By Ellen Kelleher The first agroforestry investment vehicle of its kind is to be listed in Luxembourg within weeks. Moringa, a Sicar co-sponsored by ONF International, the environmental consultants, and La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild, will become the first listed investment vehicle to offer the chance to invest in a combination of agricultural and forestry projects across Africa and Latin America. As much as €50m has been raised already for the venture capital investment vehicle, which is looking to cap its fundraising at €120m. The fund’s aim is to crack down on deforestation and promote the development of sustainable land use across sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America while also turning a profit. Investment schemes range from planting 6,500 hectares of cashew trees in Madagascar to the repurposing of 12,500 hectares of unproductive savannah in the Democratic Republic of Congo to produce charcoal. “The fund is very different because you are going to manage your forest, but at the same time you will grow some agricultural products,” says Hugo Ferreira, deputy general manager with La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild. “That gives you a diversified income stream during the life of the fund.” Officials in the ONFI’s field offices in Cameroon, Gabon, Brazil and Colombia will assist in finding worthy projects to invest in. The fund’s duration will be 12 years as a minimum. Investments will be made in the first five years and a lengthy holding period will follow. A typical pure-play timber fund, by comparison, has a longer duration of 15 to 18 years. Management fees will be 2 per cent per year and the managers will also take 20 per cent of the capital gain after a hurdle rate of 7 per cent. Continue reading →