Alternative Outlook

Timberland has long been a defensive investment for the wealthy; now ordinary Joes can buy in, too. Brett Arends for SmartMoney investigates.
I grew up next to a forest. I remember, as a child, hiking through the trees with our two golden retrievers in tow and, hilariously, panning for gold in the stream. I started with high hopes. I saw plenty of gold — all fool’s, alas.

Investors, too, have been hunting for riches in the forests — and these days, they’re also seeking shelter there. Market guru Jeremy Grantham, whose investment firm, GMO…

As global stock markets fluctuate wildly, both individuals and institutions are increasingly looking to alternative investments to provide balance and stability to their portfolios. Given the rapid run-up in agricultural commodities and food prices recently, farmland investments are becoming an increasingly attractive asset class.

In the UK for example, over the last 10 years, agricultural land has appreciated roughly 13 per cent each year according to the Investment Property Databank (IPD). The United States and other Western countries have…

Financial markets may have turned sour but well-heeled consumers, especially in Asia, are still thirsty for renowned top quality wines, such as Italy’s most expensive red Masseto, its makers say.

Fine wines with prices starting at triple digits have become brands like top watches or cars, whose high quality and wide brand recognition give consumers some much sought after investment security, Giovanni Geddes, chief executive of the Tenuta dell’Ornellaia estate which makes Masseto, told Reuters.

“The fine wine market is not that different f…

Gold looks set to shoot back up to $2,000 per ounce in the near future, says Angelos Damaskos, the chief executive of Sector Investment Managers.

Although gold is currently in the eleventh year of a boom market, as much as 20% has been wiped off the spot price more recently from the high of $1,921 recorded in early September, according to Damaskos, who is fund adviser to the Junior Mining fund.
Investors are scrambling to free up liquidity in the face of a constrained lending market and, in the face of sustained uncertainty, could well cont…

Following BRICs and CIVETs, Joe Roseman identifies the next acronym to hit the investment world as silver, wine, art and gold (SWAG) punch well above their weight.

A few years ago, Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs almost revolutionised the way many people thought about emerging markets. He coined the term ‘BRICs’. It is successful because it works on so many levels.

Investing in the BRICs has become an asset class of its own.

This got me thinking about asset classes generally and just what it is that differentiates one asset class fr…

Gold’s rally will extend beyond $2,000 an ounce in the next year, but won’t match the torrid record-breaking climb of the last 12 months, according to gold investors and analysts attending the London Bullion Market Association’s (LBMA) annual conference.

With no let up seen in the financial markets uncertainty that fanned the safe-haven investment spree, bullion is expected to rise to $2,019 an ounce by November 2012 when the next LBMA conference takes place in Asia, delegates polled by event organizers at the end of the meeting on Tuesday s…

Octopus Investments has reaffirmed its commitment to the UK solar industry by launching two new solar-focused venture capital trusts (VCT), reports Solar Power Portal.

Unlike Octopus’s previous investments, the new funds are being aimed at companies developing medium-sized (<50kW) installations, which are eligible for the government’s higher feet-in tariff (FiT) rates.

The fund management company’s previous two VCT’s have enabled hundreds of small-scale investors to gain access to the revenue streams facilitated by the govern…

The Ghanaian Forestry Commission’s announcement that it will establish 10,000 hectares of forest plantations has attracted praise from Forestry Research Associates (FRA).

FRA supports sustainable forestry and the proliferation of managed forestry through investment in the industry, particularly in emerging economies that are densely forested. The Forestry Commission’s CEO, Samuel Afari Dartey, made the announcement of the plan to encourage landowners to release land to facilitate the plantation projects.

Speaking on Greening Ghana Day…

Gold could push through the $2 000/oz level by year-end on the back of strong investment demand, the latest Thomson Reuters GFMS Gold Survey 2011 Update states.

The report, the first to be prepared by the precious and base metals research consultancy since its acquisition by Thomson Reuters, was released in London and Hong Kong on Thursday.

Speaking at the Hong Kong launch, the consultancy’s global head of metals analytics Philip Klapwijk said investment in all forms could rise to a record of above 1 000 t during the second half of 20…

Asia’s growing thirst for fine wine has helped Hong Kong become the world’s biggest centre for auction sales, and makes a compelling case for investment, according to wine auctioneer Acker Merrall & Condit, reports Finance Asia.

Europeans are spending less money on wine these days, due to a change in drinking habits and the weakening economy, but strong demand in Asia is keeping the industry’s growth story alive, according to M&A International, an M&A boutique.

Indeed, Hong Kong has even overtaken New York as the world’s big…