United Bankers: UB Nordic Forest Fund I’s forest assets acquired by a company that is part of a European insurance group

United Bankers: UB Nordic Forest Fund I’s forest assets acquired by a company that is part of a European insurance group


08.06.2020
United Bankers

 

United Bankers Plc publishes its official Company announcements and press releases in Finnish. This is an unofficially translated and abridged version of the official Company announcement published on 5.6.2020 in Finnish. If there are contradictions between the language versions, the official Finnish text applies. The official Company announcement in Finnish is available on United Bankers Plc’s website www.unitedbankers.fi.

 

United Bankers Plc

 

INSIDE INFORMATION 5.6.2020 at 2:35 p.m. EEST

 

United Bankers: UB Nordic Forest Fund I’s forest assets acquired by a company that is part of a European insurance group

 

United Bankers Plc announces that it has today signed a purchase agreement, according to which a company that is part of a European insurance group, acquires the forest assets held by United Bankers’ UB Nordic Forest Fund I, a total of 18,224 hectares. In practice, the transaction is carried out through acquiring all partnership interests in the Fund in the form of a limited partnership. UB Nordic Forest Management Ltd, a subsidiary of United Bankers Plc, has acted as the General Partner in the Fund.

 

Launched in 2014, UB Nordic Forest Fund I was United Bankers’ first fund investing its assets in forest properties. The Fund has 58 Limited Partners.

 

The total purchase price of the forest assets was approximately EUR 73 million, which was paid in cash. Calculated based on the net purchase price paid by the purchaser, the Fund’s effective annual rate of return (IRR) for the entire investment period is 10.4%. UB Nordic Forest Management Ltd will account for the entire transaction performance fee of approximately EUR 4.1 million, of which approximately EUR 2.8 million will be booked in the 2020 result of United Bankers Plc.

 

“Finnish forest is an ideal way to allocate assets in a class that offers stable returns irrespective of the developments in the financial markets. The transaction stems from the insurance group’s desire to grow the share of forest properties in its investment allocation. UB Nordic Forest Fund I offers to the purchaser an extensive and well-managed portfolio of forest properties combined with an existing forest management infrastructure”, says Jyri Hietala, Managing Director of UB Nordic Forest Management Ltd.

 

Thanks to its forest funds, United Bankers remains one of the biggest forest owners in Finland after the transaction. After selling the forest assets in UB Nordic Forest Fund I, the land area of the forest properties held by United Bankers’ funds is approximately 110,300 hectares. United Bankers continues to manage two closed end equity funds investing in forest assets, UB Nordic Forest Fund II and UB Nordic Forest Fund III, as well UB Timberland Fund, an AIF regulated open-end special investment fund. UB Nordic Forest Fund II and UB Timberland Fund are currently open to investors.

 

United Bankers will hold an event for the media and analysts at the company’s premises at Aleksanterinkatu 21 A, Helsinki, on 5 June 2020 at 3.00 p.m. EEST. Instructions for participating through a video connection may be requested at ir@unitedbankers.fi. United Bankers Plc’s CEO Patrick Anderson and UB Nordic Forest Management Oy’s Managing Director Jyri Hietala will be present at the event.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Patrick Anderson, CEO, United Bankers Plc

patrick.anderson@unitedbankers.fi, +358 400 244 544

 

Jyri Hietala, Managing Director, UB Nordic Forest Management Ltd

jyri.hietala@unitedbankers.fi, +358 40 359 3566

 

The company’s Certified Advisor is Oaklins Merasco Ltd, telephone. +358 9 6129 670.

 

United Bankers Plc in brief:

 

United Bankers Plc is a Finnish asset manager and financial markets expert founded in 1986. The UB Group has two business areas: wealth management and capital markets services. In wealth management, the group specializes in real asset investments. United Bankers is mainly owned by its key personnel and the Group employs 135 people (FTE) and 36 agents (2019). The company’s net sales in 2019 were EUR 32.5 million and adjusted operating profit EUR 6.7 million (IFRS). The Group’s assets under management are approximately EUR 3.6 billion (2019). The company has been listed on the First North Growth Market Finland marketplace since November 2014. The Financial Supervisory Authority supervises the company’s operations. Learn more about United Bankers Plc at www.unitedbankers.fi.