Timberland Investment Resources Europe has launched its TIR-Europe Global Forestry Fund.

The European arm of the US-based investment management partnership, which specialises in forestry, will invest the fund’s capital in a diversified global portfolio of forest properties and related assets in Europe, the US and Latin America, as well as more niche markets.

The firm says the fund will target returns of 8-10 per cent annually, using economic research and forest biometric analysis to identify long-term trends and market inefficiencies.

The new fund is registered in Luxembourg as a Specialised Investment Fund with the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.

“Forestry investments offer excellent inflation-hedging characteristics and have generated a long history of stable investment performance consisting of both current income and asset appreciation,” Hugh Humfrey, managing partner of TIR-Europe, said in a statement. “As a result, the asset-class tends to offer a great deal of flexibility from both a tax and cash flow planning standpoint, which makes it very compelling given the prevailing market conditions.”

Timberland was founded in 2003 and currently has more than $750 million under management. The firm launched its European operation in October of last year.