Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance acts on New Forests' investment in Laos

Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance has advised New Forests on Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2's (TAFF2) acquisition of a majority interest in Burapha Agro-Forestry.

The investment was led by New Forests with co-investment from Mirova's Land Degradation Neutrality Fund (NF). NF is a Luxembourg-based public-private impact investment fund which invests in projects which reduce or reverse land degradation, through its wholly-owned Swedish subsidiary firm, BAFCO Invest AB. The partnership aims to enhance sustainable agroforestry practices in Laos, contributing to environmental conservation and economic development in the region.

Burapha is a Laotian timber plantation forestry company with 6,000 hectares of planted forest combined with conservation areas, a plywood mill, and a voluntary carbon project focussed on plantation afforestation, reforestation and revegetation issuing carbon credits. Burapha establishes plantations on degraded land where the primary forest has been cleared for some time, and the land since used for shifting cultivation. The company works closely with local farmers to develop their agroforestry models, which contribute to food security and reduce 'slash and burn' cultivation.

"Mitsui and Nomura-backed New Forests, a long-standing client of the firm, is a leading global investment manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies," said Tom Platts, Partner, Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance. "This is the latest in a series of transactions on which our Singapore-based team has advised New Forests. We have an international focus on energy transition, and were able to lean on this expertise to bring genuine insight and wider commercial understanding to this matter.".

The Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance team was led by Corporate Partner Tom Platts, who was supported by Of Counsel Helen Rhind-Hufnagel and Associate Harry Wilson. Partner Dr. Gregory Xu and Paralegal Dan Tan provided finance advice. Additional Singapore law advice was provided by Virtus Law Partner Sheetal Sandhu and Associate Claris Saw.

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