Q&A Interview with David Shelton on taking New Forests’ capability global

1. What was the strategic reason that drove New Forests to launch a global natural capital strategy now?

“Historically, we’ve offered regional strategies across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Asia and Africa. Our clients have typically been large global institutional and pension funds who have the inhouse capability to make their own global allocations to the
regions they would like exposure to.

But there’s a large pool of capital amongst those that don’t necessarily have dedicated teams to assess the fundamentals of the regions and geographies. In these instances, it’s easier for these investors to allocate into a global fund where we make the allocation decisions based on our knowledge to where the underlying investments should go, and how to create an optimal portfolio.”

2. Who is the target audience for this new global strategy?

“The target audience is institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and endowments or foundations that are interested in an exposure to natural capital, but don’t necessarily have the capability to make a regional or
geographic judgement decision themselves.”

3.  Why would New Forests’ global natural capital strategy appeal to investors?

“It’s appealing on a couple of fronts; firstly, we’re offering a compelling return profile for investors – with a proven track record. Second are the attributes of investing in natural capital assets such as inflation hedging characteristics, low correlation to other asset classes and long dated return profiles with relatively low volatility.  And finally, investors are starting to recognise in addition to delivering compelling investment returns, investing in this asset class has a positive impact on the environment.”

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