The suggestion, from the company’s second biggest shareholder Franklin Resources Inc, resulted in the biggest jump of Weyerhaeuser shares for two years.
Weyerhaeuser may seek to convert to REIT status after the US Congress failed to equalise tax treatment of corporarte and REIT ownership of forestlands.
Weyerhaeuser is one of the last remaining major corporate owners of forests in America.
Currently, the company pays a top tax rate of 35%, but it could pay 15% by converting to trust status.
Shares in Weyerhaeuser jumped 5.3% at the prospect of the company changing to a REIT.
Meanwhile, Weyerhaeuser has announced the closure of its Toutle mill in 2008, resulting in the loss of 130 jobs. A new mill, also expected to open in 2008, is to be constructed at Longview and will employ about 230 people.
