Forestry Investors Out of the Woods After Years of Uncertainty
- 20 October 2015
The Irish Forestry Funds (IFF) has sold 10,000 acres of semi-mature plantations to a European private-equity fund
THOUSANDS of retail investors are set to recover the combined sum of €30m that they put into woodlands, after the sale by Irish Forestry Funds (IFF) of 10,000 acres of semi-mature plantations to a European private-equity fund.
The deal ends years of uncertainty. Some of the investors have been waiting since 2012 to get their money back. IFF confirmed that those who had invested between 2002 and 2005 would recover, before Christmas, their cash plus a tax-free return — although returns will fall far short of the 8.5%-9.6% a year that had been projected.
The investments were made in nine separate unregulated funds, from the fourth forestry investment plan in 2002 to the 12th plan in 2005. The woodlands held under all of these plans have been sold as a single lot.