Demonstrating an "exceptional focus on biodiversity and ecosystem restoration", Resource Management Service (RMS) was the Sustainable Investment Awards judges' choice as Boutique investment manager of the year in the Americas.

Judges highlighted it as "a benchmark for how a boutique manager can deliver measurable environmental outcomes at institutional scale while protecting and enhancing investor returns".

The US-based forest manager oversees 2.2 million acres across the US and in southern Brazil and claims about $5.7 billion in fair market value under management and more than 30 institutional investors.

It was a busy year for the manager, as it celebrated the closure of a $73.5 million deal for conservation of 62,000 acres of forestland last year, backed by a $50 million grant from the US Forest Service's Forest Legacy Programme and managed on behalf of clients including Danish pension fund ATP. The forestlands will remain productive working forests under the conservation easements, including for sustainable timber production with certification by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and Forest Stewardship Council.

It came as RMS also built its 'Ecosystem Integrity Index' to quantify biodiversity and ecosystem integrity in working forests, which was piloted across RMS' 441,000-acre Evergreen Fund, giving investors a scored biodiversity and ecosystem health baseline for a large working forest portfolio.