Corio, ABP and forest land investments (Netherlands)
- Government and regulators Mozambique Ministry of Agriculture and National Directorate of Land and Forests: A September 2010 review found 32,000 ha occupied without a DUAT. TNI and FIAN
- Company or project GSFF: Rejected the finding. TNI and FIAN
- Company or project ABP: Acknowledged in December 2011 that the investment did not meet its environmental, social and governance criteria, and declined to withdraw. IPE via Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Corio N.V. was a Dutch shopping-centre investor, and the sources reviewed record no rainforest purchase by it. Its reported main shareholder, the pension fund ABP, separately held a majority of a forestry fund in Mozambique whose subsidiary a 2010 government review found occupying 32,000 hectares without land-use rights.
As reported by TNI and FIAN (2013). The fund denied the finding.
Status As of 12 October 2026: no rainforest purchase by Corio is on record; the latest sources on ABP's Chikweti investment date from 2011–2013.
- ABP and the other GSFF investors — Held a forestry fund stake; returns on the investment are not on record in the sources reviewed. TNI and FIAN
- Local communities near Plantar (Brazil), Addax (Sierra Leone) and Feronia (DR Congo) — Reported as having lost land or said they were dispossessed; these are separate projects financed by other Dutch investors. TNI and FIAN
- Land in Niassa province, Mozambique — 32,000 ha of natural miombo woodland and farmland occupied by plantations without a DUAT, per the 2010 government review; no ecological assessment is on record. TNI and FIAN
What happened
Corio N.V. was headquartered in Utrecht, listed in Amsterdam and Paris, and included in the AEX index from March 2008. It was a retail property company: its share of holdings other than shopping centres fell from 47% in 2000 to about 4% at the end of 2010, and in 2010 it had a retail portfolio worth €7.2 billion and about 450 full-time staff. It operated in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Turkey. Its merger into the French company Klépierre took effect on 31 March 2015. The sources reviewed record no rainforest or forest land holding by Corio, and Corio's annual reports for 2005–2014 were not read.
In Turkey, Corio bought 47% of the Akmerkez centre in Istanbul in 2005 for €149 million. In November 2008 Turkish press reported about €800 million invested in 11 shopping-centre projects there, with chief executive Gerard Groener calling Turkey the company's fastest-growing market. In 2014 it owned seven centres in Turkey with a combined value of about €510 million.
Reports describe ABP, the Dutch civil-service pension fund, as Corio's founding and largest shareholder, but those reports are not independently verified in the sources reviewed (see Unknown). Separately, ABP decided in 2007 to add forest land to its portfolio, on the stated ground that forests give stable and potentially high returns for pension funds. According to a 2013 briefing by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and FIAN, an ABP senior portfolio manager announced a target of about €1 billion in land investments. ABP took about 60% of the Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF), a $100 million fund set up by the Diocese of Västerås in Sweden and the Church of Norway's foundation OVF; other sources give ABP's share as 54.5% and the investment as €47 million or $60 million.
GSFF's subsidiary Chikweti Forests of Niassa planted pine and eucalyptus in Niassa province, Mozambique, on natural miombo woodland and farmland; the sources describe it as a plantation, not rainforest. The project was presented as a sustainable forest and carried Forest Stewardship Council certification. In September 2010 a review by Mozambique's Ministry of Agriculture and National Directorate of Land and Forests found that Chikweti occupied 32,000 hectares without a DUAT, the state-granted right to use and benefit from land; GSFF rejected the finding. In December 2011 ABP acknowledged that the investment did not meet its environmental, social and governance criteria, but declined to withdraw. The sources reviewed date from 2011–2013 and do not show whether ABP later left.
Other Dutch investors appear in the same body of reporting. Mongabay reported in February 2021 that ABP held shares worth about $219 million, mostly in JBS, and the health-sector pension fund PFZW about $163 million, in the Brazilian meat companies JBS, Marfrig and Minerva, and that 79% of pension-fund investment in those companies came from the Netherlands. The development bank FMO, 51% state-owned, co-financed Feronia's palm plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (reported at $100–200 million from 2013 together with other European development banks; nine communities want their land back, and a human-rights defender was killed in July 2019), and joined the Addax sugar-cane project in Sierra Leone, where 60 villages lost land and from which FMO withdrew around 2015. Rabobank co-financed the Plantar eucalyptus charcoal and carbon project in Minas Gerais, Brazil; local communities said the land was not abandoned and that they were dispossessed, and Rabobank said its loan was repaid in 2008.
- 2000Corio N.V. formed by a merger; non-shopping-centre share of holdings 47%
- 2005Corio buys 47% of Akmerkez, Istanbul, for €149m
- 2007ABP decides to add forest land; takes about 60% of GSFF
- 2010Mozambique review finds Chikweti on 32,000 ha without DUAT (September)
- 2011ABP acknowledges the investment did not meet its ESG criteria but does not withdraw (December)
- 2013TNI and FIAN briefing; Dutch minister Lilianne Ploumen calls land grabbing a “serious concern” (May)
- 2015Corio merges into Klépierre (31 March)
- 2021Mongabay reports ABP and PFZW holdings in Brazilian meat companies (5 February)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
A September 2010 review found 32,000 ha occupied without a DUAT.
TNI and FIANAcknowledged in December 2011 that the investment did not meet its environmental, social and governance criteria, and declined to withdraw.
IPE via Business & Human Rights Resource CentreThe government does not dictate policy to private investors; forest investments matter for Mozambique's development.
TNI and FIANOn 16 May 2013 described land grabbing as a serious concern.
TNI and FIANDescribe Dutch pension funds, banks, companies and the state as involved in the global land and water grab through direct finance and support for voluntary self-regulation codes.
TNI and FIANA pioneering carbon project reforesting abandoned pasture.
TNI and FIANSaid the land was not abandoned and that they were dispossessed.
TNI and FIANHow it looked
Shown
- Chikweti was presented as a sustainable forest and carried FSC certification.Project and fund (as described in the reporting reviewed)
- Investment in forest land was described as giving stable and potentially high returns for pension funds.ABP, 2007 (as reported by TNI and FIAN) · TNI and FIAN
- Plantar was presented as a pioneering carbon project reforesting abandoned pasture.Project, as described by TNI · TNI and FIAN
Recorded
- A September 2010 review by Mozambique's Ministry of Agriculture and National Directorate of Land and Forests found 32,000 ha occupied without a DUAT.
- ABP acknowledged in December 2011 that the investment did not meet its ESG criteria and declined to withdraw.
- Corio's portfolio was shopping centres: €7.2 billion in 2010, with about 4% of holdings outside shopping centres.
- No source reviewed records a rainforest land purchase by Corio, ABP's Corio stake, or any member of the Dutch royal family.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- GSFF (Global Solidarity Forest Fund) (2010): Rejected the finding that Chikweti occupied land without a DUAT. · TNI and FIAN
- ABP (December 2011): Acknowledged that the investment did not meet its ESG criteria but declined to withdraw. · IPE via Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Dutch Minister Ben Knapen (2011–2013): Said the government does not dictate policy to private investors, and defended forest investments as important for Mozambique's development. · TNI and FIAN
- Rabobank (2008): Said the Plantar loan was repaid in 2008. · TNI and FIAN
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2010-09–2010-09Outcome not on recordMozambique government review of Chikweti's land useMinistry of Agriculture and National Directorate of Land and Forests · Administrative · Government of Mozambique (review) → Chikweti Forests of Niassa (GSFF subsidiary)
The review found 32,000 hectares occupied without a DUAT. GSFF rejected the finding. The sources reviewed do not record a penalty or remedy. TNI and FIAN
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed Did Chikweti occupy land without legal land-use rights?
Court
- Unclear Mozambique government review of Chikweti's land use: outcome not on record.
Accounts
Record
- None on record No source reviewed records a purchase of rainforest land by Corio.
- Unclear Whether ABP left Chikweti or GSFF after 2011: the sources date from 2011–2013.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Corio was formed in 2000 by the merger of VIB with WBN, a wholly owned ABP subsidiary; that ABP held 39% of Corio in 2006 (IPE); and that ABP, through APG, committed in July 2014 to transfer its 30.6% stake to Klépierre (IBJ).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a World Bank BioCarbon Fund table giving Chikweti 63,040 ha of DUAT and 14,250 ha planted.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the Mozambican peasants' union UNAC has documented eucalyptus plantations entering peasant land since 2007 and that the national directorate confirmed consultations were not properly held.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that ABP, through APG, bought a majority of about 70,000 ha of forest in the southern United States for about $462 million, a third of the 170,000 ha Forico plantation in Tasmania, and plantations in New Zealand; and that ABP holds a forest and farmland portfolio of about €3 billion that it aims to raise to €5 billion.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that in April 2018 the Dutch Royal House said King Willem-Alexander holds no shares in companies bearing the title “Koninklijk”; the statement says nothing about other family members.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: royal-family investments abroad, including a resort in Mozambique (2007–2012), a 1,500-ha estate in Patagonia (2009) and a villa in Greece (2012); ownership and sizes of the Patagonian land are reported inconsistently.
- None on record The Dutch state's holdings in forest-related investments are not totalled in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
ABP acknowledged in December 2011 that the investment missed its ESG criteria and stayed invested. The sources reviewed do not show a later exit.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed; communities in Niassa, Minas Gerais, Sierra Leone and the Congo are reported as having lost land or said they were dispossessed.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Corio (company)Wikipedia ·
- ABP concedes African forestry investment failed to meet ESG criteriaIPE via Business & Human Rights Resource Centre · 2011-12-05
- Investigation: Dutch, Japanese pension funds pay for Amazon deforestationMongabay · 2021-02-05
- Türkiye cazip (Corio in Turkey)Bigpara / Hürriyet · 2008-11-21
- Akmerkez için dev teklifCumhuriyet · 2014-07-30
Communities and civil society
- The Netherlands and the Global Land and Water GrabTNI and FIAN · 2013
Connected cases
- Dutch pension fund ABP added forest land in 2007 and held Brazilian meat shares Netherlands · 2007–2021 Related matter
- ABP (Pension fund) — here: Dutch civil-service pension fund; reported main Corio shareholder; GSFF investor; there: Dutch public-sector pension fund; investor in forest land and Brazilian meat shares
- APG (Asset manager) — here: ABP's asset manager; there: asset manager that holds ABP's forest investments
- Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF) (Asset manager) — here: Global Solidarity Forest Fund, forestry fund in Mozambique; there: forest fund in which ABP took a 60 percent stake
- Chikweti Forests of Niassa (Company) — here: GSFF subsidiary; plantations in Niassa; there: plantation company whose occupation of 32,000 hectares was found by the 2010 review
- Eliasch Amazon land purchase Brazil · 2006 Related matter
- Kiribati buys 5,500 acres in Fiji for $8.77 million, with no sovereignty over the land Fiji · 2014 Related matter
- Chikweti forestry plantations (Mozambique) Mozambique · 2007
- ABP (Pension fund) — here: Dutch civil-service pension fund; reported main Corio shareholder; GSFF investor; there: Majority investor in GSFF
- Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF) (Asset manager) — here: Global Solidarity Forest Fund, forestry fund in Mozambique; there: Forest fund
- Chikweti Forests of Niassa (Company) — here: GSFF subsidiary; plantations in Niassa; there: Plantation company (GSFF subsidiary)
- Dutch pension fund ABP held a stake in a Mozambique forest fund Mozambique · 2007–2011
- ABP (Pension fund) — here: Dutch civil-service pension fund; reported main Corio shareholder; GSFF investor; there: Dutch public-sector pension fund; 60 percent investor in the fund
- Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF) (Asset manager) — here: Global Solidarity Forest Fund, forestry fund in Mozambique; there: forest fund holding Chikweti Forests of Niassa
- Chikweti Forests of Niassa (Company) — here: GSFF subsidiary; plantations in Niassa; there: plantation company whose occupation of 32,000 hectares was found by the 2010 review
- Barro Blanco hydro dam (Panama) Panama · 2014
- FMO (Dutch development bank) (Bank) — here: Dutch development bank, 51% state-owned; there: Lender (USD 25 million)
- Berta Cáceres killing and Agua Zarca dam Honduras · 2013–2026
- FMO (Dutch development bank) (Bank) — here: Dutch development bank, 51% state-owned; there: Financier (Dutch development bank)
- Biomas restoration initiative Brazil · 2022
- Rabobank (Bank) — here: Co-financier of the Plantar project; there: Founder
- Dutch bank FMO backed a 20,000-hectare Sierra Leone sugar cane lease Sierra Leone · 2008–2015
- FMO (Dutch development bank) (Bank) — here: Dutch development bank, 51% state-owned; there: Dutch development bank; partner in the Addax lease, withdrew around 2015
- European development banks financed Feronia palm plantations in Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2013–2019
- FMO (Dutch development bank) (Bank) — here: Dutch development bank, 51% state-owned; there: Development bank that invested in the plantations
- Marfrig co-founded Biomas, a Brazilian forest-restoration company Brazil · 2022
- Rabobank (Bank) — here: Co-financier of the Plantar project; there: Founding partner of Biomas
- Papua food and energy estate (Indonesia) Indonesia · 2024
- Transnational Institute (TNI) (NGO) — here: NGO; author of the 2013 briefing; there: Indonesian military; reported clearing land
- Rabobank co-financed a Brazilian eucalyptus carbon plantation contested by locals Brazil · 2003–2008
- Rabobank (Bank) — here: Co-financier of the Plantar project; there: co-financier and fund shareholder