作为四季的资产类别，天伯伦兑现了它的承诺

2009年夏天，詹姆斯·特雷纳(James Treanor)还在推迟首次涉足林地投资的计划。作为佛罗里达州行政管理委员会的高级投资官，Treanor的任务是寻找多样化的资产类别，以填补佛罗里达州退休系统1,254亿美元投资组合中8%的空缺。该投资组合由私募股权和战略投资平均分配。他在2009年6月对《机构投资者》(Institutional Investor)亚博赞助欧冠表示:“我们觉得没有任何仓促。”“考虑到目前的周期，木材价格应该会下降。”2008年信贷危机爆发前，投资者开始使用高达60%的债务资本来代替股权，天伯伦的价格随之攀升。北卡罗莱纳州温斯顿塞勒姆(Winston-Salem)木材投资管理机构RMK Timberland Group的业务发展主管詹姆斯•韦伯(James Webb Jr.)说，这些价格随着住房和建筑市场的崩溃而崩溃。既然价格已经回落到现实水平，传统的养老基金买家又回到了游戏中。特雷纳的耐心得到了回报。佛罗里达州委员会(Florida State Board)将把4亿美元的林地分配给两个timo: 3亿美元给波士顿汉考克木材资源集团(Hancock Timber Resource Group)， 1亿美元给密西西比杰克逊的Molpus Woodlands Group。佛罗里达州委员会在其位于Tallahassee的办公室负责监督FRS和其他25个州的基金。与此同时，爱荷华州公务员退休系统(Iowa Public Employees ' Retirement System)正在寻找其首位木材经理，而马萨诸塞州养老金储备投资管理委员会(Pension reserve Investment Management Board)则希望扩大其10.3亿美元的木材投资组合。 Public pension funds are the top investors in timberland, holding 45 percent, or $19 billion, of the asset class, according to a 2010 survey of 23 TIMOs by Atlanta consulting firm TimberLink. Foundations and endowments like Yale University, which owns 3 million acres of timber, hold 19 percent, or $8 billion. Corporate pension plans such as Eastman Chemical Co. and Target Corp., both longtime timber investors, make up 10 percent, or $4 billion, of the total. A versatile asset class, the earth’s forests can fill multiple roles. They are a green and renewable resource with a high positive correlation to inflation, preserving capital when prices rise. And although excessive leverage disturbed timberland values of late, trees grow in size and value regardless of movements in the financial markets. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, a timberland investor since 1989, recently gave forests a bigger role. Last December, Sacramento-based CalPERS moved its $2.4 billion in timber holdings — 1.03 percent of its $230 billion in assets — from the inflation-linked to the real assets portfolio. The logic: An inflation hedge, timberland also delivers equity diversification and cash inflow. With its low correlation to most other asset classes, timberland performed as the TIMOs promised in 2008 and 2009, offering downside protection. Timberland investments managed by 11 U.S. TIMOs representing $23.7 billion in assets, tracked by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries timberland index, rose 9.52 percent in 2008 and fell only 4.75 percent in 2009. The index lost 0.15 percent last year, when many asset classes were back in positive territory, but it gained an average of 6.82 percent a year in the decade through 2010. CalPERS’s forests had an even better 20-year run, earning 8.90 percent annually net of fees. Investors like Ralph Egizi, CIO of   Eastman Chemical, are keen on timberland’s increasingly global reach. The $1.1 billion Kingsport, Tennessee–based pension fund invests in farmed holdings in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. “That part of the world has wonderful conditions for growing timber,” says Egizi, who believes timberland is a good diversifier, with a consistent cash flow during harvest.

Egizi警告称，投资者需要对木材做出稳定承诺，以避免市场波动。他的经理、新罕布什尔州黎巴嫩TIMO Global Forest Partners的首席执行官彼得·默茨(Peter Mertz)同意他的观点:“在持有期间，价格上下波动。这是无法逃避的。”