CITIC, Fletcher Challenge Forests Ltd’s Chinese joint venture partner in the failed Central North Island Forest Partnership in New Zealand, is believed to have made a back-up offer to buy the partnership’s forests if Fletcher’s bid fails.
Fletcher, New Zealand’s second-largest forest owner, recently started negotiations with the partnership receivers to buy 162,000ha of trees and three sawmills it previously owned with CITIC.
The reserve price for the forests is thought to be about US$654m, plus receivership costs of about the same amount.
