Land Aquisition Services - Great Britain
Fountains Land's UK associate company Fountains Forestry Ltd sources and manages commercial forests and amenity woodland across the United Kingdom. This service stems from the Company's five decades of experience managing British woodlands and advising investors. Over the last year, Fountains was involved in 16 timberland transactions giving rise to successful purchases valued at over £8 million ($11million USD).
Forest Investments in Great Britain
The last three years has been turbulent one for markets and many asset classes have still not recovered from the value lost. The Investment Property Databank (IPD) Forestry Index (based on UK commercial spruce forestry) for the 18 year period to December 2010 showed an average annualized return of 6.3%. This return compares favourably with other low to medium risk investments such as stocks and government securities. According to the IPD Forestry Index, "Forestry has proved a stable and resilient counterbalance to equity investments over this troubled period for investors". Despite the challenges of-late to the global economy, UK timber ownership has proved very resilient to the recession. Among factors that have influenced the demand-side include substitutions of timber grown in other European countries with UK grown timber, favoring local forest owners and current exchange rates making timber exports to the Euro Zone and Sweden more competitive. Exemption from certain UK property taxes currently provides encouragement for commercial forest and woodland ownership. The growth in value of lumber is exempt from capital taxes in the UK. Tax-free timber income is also an incentive to buyers, particularly those purchasing older woodlands and looking for income to supplement pensions. In addition to the special tax arrangements applied to UK forest ownership, commercial forest investment is considered to be relatively low risk (as asset growth is in-part biological), non-correlated with equities and less volatile than bonds. This gives the asset class an important diversifying, inflation and risk hedging quality that can be applied to multi-asset portfolios. On top of these economic benefits, the ownership of commercial forests in the British Isles provide a valuable range of non economic benefits such as sporting, leisure and nature conservation. To learn more about the Index visit here.
These particulars should not be construed as tax or investment advice; investors outside the United Kingdom should consult a qualified tax and investment advisor.
Forests of Great Britain
Commercial forests in the UK consist mainly of fast growing conifers in upland areas (e.g. native Scots pine or non-native Sitka spruce) which are typically harvested and re-planted every 35 to 40 years. Most commercial forests are located in Scotland, Wales or northern England. By contrast, native broadleaf woodlands have limited lumber value and are generally purchased as amenity assets, although they have steadily appreciated in value over the last 10 years or so. They have very different characteristics to commercial forests - see Table below. They are generally found in lowland areas, particularly in England and central Wales.
Forest Management in Great Britain
Through our consultancy and forest management services we offer the following support services after purchase:
Whether you are a private or institutional investor, whether you are looking for a timber investment or an amenity property we look forward to helping you find your ideal property. A list of properties available in the UK can be found onhttp://www.fountainsforestry.co.uk/forestry_services/forestry_and_woodland_properties/property_list For information on UK properties, please contact Alan Guy on 011 44 1295 753 252, email Forestry.admin@fountainsforestry.co.uk or use the Property Enquiry link on the website below. Feel free to contact Michael Tragner at Fountains Land in the U.S. for your initial guidance at michael.tragner@fountainsamerica.com.
The Advisors
Fountains' acquisition services in the UK comprise a group of highly skilled professionals with a diversified knowledge of natural resources, government regulation, investment modeling, and contract negotiations. Our professional acquisition team offers local knowledge and a national perspective of the market. We can help you:
Our Acquisition Advisors, Alan Guy and Jim Skelton are supported by Fountains operational teams, who provide survey resources and due diligence data in the field.
Alan is the company's UK Real Estate and Acquisitions Manager, a position that links the UK and overseas investors with US forestland investments. Since receiving his economics degree and MBA, Alan has enjoyed a diversified career which includes commercial and risk management in the engineering industry as well as business development and forestry management. He is a qualified forester, a Member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and also completed an MSc in Environmental Management in 2004. Alan has worked with Fountains in real estate acquisitions since 2005.
Jim Skelton, Business Development Manager
Jim is the company's UK Forestry Business Development Manager. A forestry graduate from UCNW Bangor, Jim has spent 30 of his 36 years in the forest industry working with Fountains in a wide range of roles. Most recently, Jim was responsible for the management of clients' forestry assets in the southern half of Scotland. He now focuses on helping clients and the company to identify ways of adding value to assets, with a particular interest in the way they can support renewable energy developments. |
England, Scotland and Wales contain highly productive conifer forests as well as some of the most beautiful broadleaf woodland throughout Europe. Some of these woodlands feature in folklore and literature such as Sherwood Forest and Shakespeare's Forests of Arden and Dunsinane. While the forests of Europe elicit a strong image thanks to these icons, the forests are well grounded in sound timber investment fundamentals.
Alan Guy- Woodland Acquisition Specialist
Forest Investments in Great Britain
Forest Management in Great Britain
