Who are we?
France Valley is an entrepreneurial portfolio management company, approved by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) since 2013. Its capital is held exclusively by its founders, partners and management team. As an investment house, France Valley focuses on real estate and land assets, particularly forestry and vinyards. With a clear desire: to make assets that are difficult to acquire and manage directly accessible to investors. With 30 employees and 4 billion euros assets under management (SCPI assets recognized at full ownership value), France Valley dedicates its expertise to financial advisers, family offices, private banks and institutional investors.
Our approach
Core strategy
Our commitments
PEFC
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) is an international forest certification organisation created in 1999 to promote sustainable forest management worldwide. The PEFC label certifies forests through standards that apply to forest owners, operators and companies in the forest-wood-paper industry for sustainable forest management and wood traceability. In 2017, a flaw was revealed in Cash Investigation: PEFC had mistakenly labelled organisations outside its field of competence. As a result, the organisation tightened its membership conditions.
FSC
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international NGO whose mission is to promote the ecological, social and economic management of forests. The FSC, which is regarded as both an eco-label and a socio-environmental label, provides users with tools to promote responsible forest management.
ASFFOR
ASFFOR (Association des Sociétés et Groupements Fonciers et Forestiers) is a trade association set up in 1983 on the initiative of France’s leading financial institutions. Today, it brings together agricultural and forestry companies and groupings set up by banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and management companies either on their own behalf or on behalf of their customers, private individuals or institutional investors.
FRANCE INVEST
France Invest is a professional organisation bringing together more than 400 French management companies and nearly 180 advisory firms. France Invest strongly promotes their work in supporting unlisted companies and their central role in a vibrant economy. France Invest’s members enable institutional investors and private savers alike to support growing businesses and finance infrastructure that improves the lives of the French people. As a forum for discussion, reflection and the promotion of best practice within the financial ecosystem, France Invest particularly supports the initiatives of its members and those of the companies they support in favour of job creation and the transition to more sustainable and fairer growth.
GREENFIN LABEL
Created by the Ministry, the Greenfin label guarantees the green quality of investment funds and is aimed at financial players who act in the service of the common good through transparent and sustainable practices. The label is unique in that it excludes funds that invest in companies operating in the nuclear and fossil fuel sectors.
PRI
Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI or PRI) is a United Nations-supported international network of financial institutions working together to implement its six aspirational principles, often referenced as “the Principles”.[1] Its goal is to understand the implications of sustainability for investors and support signatories to facilitate incorporating these issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices. In implementing these principles, signatories contribute to the development of a more sustainable global financial system.
LABEL BAS CARBONE
The Low-Carbon Label, launched by the government in 2019, enables projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in all sectors (forestry, agriculture, transport, construction, waste, etc.) to be certified and economically valued. Adopted in 2019 to meet the climate objectives of the National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC), the Low-Carbon Label is the first voluntary climate certification framework in France. It guarantees that carbon reduction or sequestration projects carried out in France make a correct and transparent contribution to achieving the targets, using credible and verified methods for accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
NOVETHIC
Novethic’s analysis offers insights into the dynamics and characteristics of sustainable funds incorporating ESG criteria and the orientations of players in the responsible investment (SRI) market in Europe.
Carbon Impact Investing
Aware of working on a natural asset, the France Valley teams rely on a rigorous and standardized methodology to precisely measure the positive impact of the forestry investments made. To this end, they have developed the Forest Carbon Index.
ICF® 2020 GFI FRANCE VALLEY PATRIMOINE :
Captured Carbon
4 832 130 Teq CO2
Avoided Carbon
28 146 Teq CO2
Stored Carbon
7 594 Teq CO2
Total
4 867 870 Teq CO2
Biodiversity
Impact Investing
Measured Impact
Protect and develop the capacity to accommodate biodiversity (when they exist, promote the maintenance of dead trees of various species on the ground and off the ground, regularize the heights of the stands present which are available to these birds of different natures , promote the maintenance of “habitat” trees with, for example, cavities, maintain wetlands to prevent them from drying out, etc.).
Protect soils activity (avoid the clearing and storage of logging residues in line before reforestation, force logging machinery to circulate only on the paths created inside the plots to avoid irremediable compaction phenomena, prohibit any exploitation when the soils are particularly sensitive during their thaw or heavy rainfall, limit the stripping of the soil by clear cuts favoring their erosion and the loss of the organic matter they contain.
Promote irregular management with continuous cover : this management aims to have trees of all ages and sizes coexist within the same forest plot by promoting natural regeneration through the development of young seedlings. The objective is to maintain a continuous forest cover and avoid resorting to clear cuts that impoverish biodiversity and soils.
Anticipate climate change (when the climate, soils and the market are suitable, diversify species during reforestation, maintain the microclimate within forests avoiding the creation of gaps in the cover, diversify investment locations within our funds)
Environmental and social considerations are at the center of France Valley’s activity, and at the center of its customers’ concerns, considering that the enhancement of forest heritage is considered over the long term and that its preservation from an environmental point of view in a local economic and social context is necessary. This is why all France Valley funds are evergreen funds : investors can stay as long as they wish and decide to hold it for future generations. Till now France Valley did not sell any forest, and the investor’s churn is less than 1% per year, equivalent of a 50 years average holding duration of their stake.
France Valley has developed a management rating, which is being tested in France in 2023, and can then be extended to its forests throughout the European Union.
It is based on the following criteria:
- Measurement of surfaces placed in conservation areas
- Certification of sustainable management by third parties
- Surface managed in irregular high forest
- Quantity of clear cuts
- Measurement of the variety of species in reforestation
- Measurement of minimally invasive reforestation techniques
- Measurement of the impact of operations on forest landscapes
- Measurement of the distance between the forest and its subcontractors
- Monitoring the number of sales with lots for local buyers- Monitoring of the number of firewood sales to local consumers
Vineyards
Our services
Key figures
Assets Under Management
4 billion*
Date of inception
2013
Employees
30
European Subcontractors
70
Number of forests
300 forests
Average forest size
145.4 ha
Real estate under management
3.3 billion
Number of vineyards estates
29
*SCPI assets recognized at full ownership value
France Valley forests
Team
Prior to joining France Valley, Arnaud co-founded La Société d'Investissement Forestier, where he was Managing Director.
A former auditor with Arthur Andersen before joining the Thalès group to take part in investment operations in technology companies, Arnaud then worked in private equity with Seventure (Natixis group) and then UFG Private Equity (La Française Asset Management group - €50 billion under management), where he became a Member of the Executive Board. In this capacity, he carried out venture capital, expansion capital and LBO transactions.
Arnaud is a graduate of ESC Toulouse.
Arnaud Filhol
Co-founder Managing Director
Thomas has worked for over 20 years in the banking sector in structuring, financing and business development.
He started in 2003 at Dexia in Project Finance and then at Société Générale in Asset Finance with a particular focus on Italy, Brazil and Eastern Europe. He then joined the BRED Banque Populaire Group in 2011 to take over the management of FIPROMER, a subsidiary specialising in financial and tax advice and engineering, and a major operator in the field of financing for the French overseas territories.
In 2018, he created a new Partnership and New Business department to support the bank's new opportunities linked to the Open Banking "as a service" and "as a platform" models and growth relays with partners.
Thomas is a graduate of Ingénieur Civil des Mines.
Thomas de Cointet
Head of European Forest Investment
At France Valley, Clément works with the general management team on the forestry investment and management policy of the Groupements Forestiers.
Before joining France Valley, he was responsible for managing the forestry assets of members of the CFBL forestry cooperative. In particular, he was responsible for the northern part of Burgundy.
He was also in charge of land transactions for this area within the subsidiary Investissement Forestier et Patrimoine.
Clément is a graduate of the Ecole des Barres (Forestry Management) and has a Master's degree in Rural Law and Agribusiness from IHEDREA.
Clément Roche
Head of Investment & Asset Management
Pressian began his career in structured finance with the BPCE group (BRED). He then pursued his career in Primary Private Equity at Amundi.
Prior to joining France Valley, Pressian worked as a private debt consultant for LBPAM (La Banque Postale Asset Management).
Pressian is a graduate of the Magistère Banque Finance of the Université Panthéon-Assas.
Pressian Naydenov
Forest Analyst Europe
Before joining France Valley, Louis-Gatien worked for 3 and a half years at KPMG in the Finance Strategy & Performance department, assisting the Finance Departments of major groups with their strategic issues.
He joined France Valley to strengthen the Investment teams on the management monitoring side.
Louis-Gatien holds a Master Grand Ecole from EMLYON Business School and a BTS in Forest Management.
