We present infrared H- and K-band spectra of a companion candidate 3 ^ { \prime \prime } north of the young star GSC 08047-00232 , a probable member of the nearby young Horologium association .
From previously obtained JHK-band colors and the magnitude difference between primary and companion candidate , the latter could well be substellar ( Neuhäuser et al .
2003 ) with the spectral type being roughly M7-L9 from the JHK colors ( Chauvin et al .
2003 ) .
With the H- and K-band spectra now obtained with ISAAC at the VLT , the spectral type of the companion candidate is found to be M6-9.5 .
Assuming the same age and distance as for the primary star ( \sim 35 Myrs , 50 to 85 pc ) , this yields a mass of \sim 25 Jupiter masses for the companion , hence indeed substellar .
After TWA-5 B and HR 7329 B , this is the third brown dwarf companion around a nearby ( \leq 100 pc ) young ( \leq 100 Myrs ) star .
A total of three confirmed brown dwarf companions ( any mass , separation \geq 50 AU ) around 79 stars surveyed in three young nearby associations corresponds to a frequency of 6 \pm 4 ~ { } \% 
( with a correction for missing companions which are almost on the same line-of-sight as the primary star instead of being separated well ) , consistent with the expectation , if binaries have the same mass function as field stars .
Hence , it seems that there is no brown dwarf desert at wide separations .