Bloomberg | 2 October 2025Biggest EU pension fund ABP buys major stake in US forests
By Frances Schwartzkopff
Dutch pension fund ABP, Europe’s biggest, has become a majority shareholder in a large area of forest spanning three southern US states.
The deal is structured so that ABP holds the stake via a fund managed by the Molpus Woodlands Group and a co-investment vehicle, according to a statement by APG Asset Management, which handles transactions for ABP. Molpus bought the 173,000 acres of land in August for $462 million.
The acquisition marks the first impact investment in what will be a series focused on natural capital, under a renewed mandate. The pension fund says it plans at least €30 billion ($35 billion) in impact investments in total, including €10 billion for climate solutions and €1 billion to address biodiversity.
“Our mandate now is focused 100% on impact investments within forestry and agriculture,” the two industries that “we’re looking to deploy capital into,” said Chris Martin, portfolio manager for Americas Private Natural Capital at APG.
The Molpus fund is registered as Article 9, which is the greenest category under European Union rules. For investments in EU funds, “our goal is for all of our underlying investments to be registered as Article 9,” said Martin.
The risk-adjusted return is expected to outperform an internal benchmark, due to the sale of the timber, solar power and carbon credits related to the project, the asset manager said. APG declined to provide more financial details related to the investment.
The acquisition comes as the Trump administration axes climate and nature programs. Still, the US remains a market in which APG continues to see opportunities, Martin said.
The US is the “leading geography for institutional forest investment globally,” he said.
