Stafford Capital Partners raises $635m towards $1bn target

Stafford Capital Partners has raised $635 million for the 10th iteration of its Stafford International Timberland Fund.

SIT X is a secondaries timberland vehicle launched in January 2023 with a $1 billion fundraising target.

The firm said in an investor update: “The accelerating support for timberland as an asset class is illustrative of the growing net-zero aspirations of institutional investors globally, with significant mandates now in from a mix of institutional investors from the UK, US, Korea and Germany, including UK Local Government Pension Scheme, as well as other pension funds and insurance firms.”

Stafford Capital Partners closed SIT IX on $695 million in 2021, falling short of its $750 million target, according to Secondaries Investor data.

The vehicle received a $150 million commitment from the National Pension Service of Korea.

Stafford also has the Carbon Offset Opportunity Fund in market, which also has a $1 billion target and held a $242 million first close in February 2023.

The carbon vehicle is an Article 9 impact fund and will make secondaries investments as well investing in afforestation, natural forest restoration and improved forest management projects across global markets.

Infrastructure and real asset secondaries represented 9 percent of the overall $44 billion of secondaries volume seen in the first half of 2023, according to a report from Greenhill.