INVL Asset Management has selected Apex Group to provide fund administration services to a new fund investing in sustainably managed forests and agricultural land in the Baltic Sea region and Central and Eastern Europe.
INVL Sustainable Timberland and Farmland Fund II (STAFF II) has raised €32 million from private investors and has a target size of €100 million.
“We see this fund as a continuation of the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I which started in 2017, but more universal and much broader in geography,” said Vytautas Plunksnis, head of private equity at INVL Asset Management. “The experience we gained and investors’ trust encouraged us to realise the idea of creating long-term portfolios of top-quality forests and agricultural land and managing them according to the strictest standards of sustainable forestry and agriculture. In acting on those goals we did not set any time frame for the fund – its length is unlimited.”
Supporting sustainable funds like this will undoubtedly be a part of Apex’s plans in the future as it prioritises environmental, social and governance (ESG) services and efforts. The fund administrator has launched a range of data, reporting and analytics services around ESG for its clients, along with internal policies and practices.
In August, Apex launched a new ratings and scoring platform for the private markets, designed to deliver new insights into private companies and their investors, marking the first of its kind from a fund services provider.
The INVL mandate is also the latest in a string of deals for Apex over the last month. These included fund administration mandates for Stockholm-based alternative investment manager Keel Capital, Egypt-focused private equity firm Lorax Capital Partners and the $200 million Financing Opportunities Fund of UAE-based asset manager and banking platform SHUAA Capital.