Fletcher Challenge Forests is to sell 106,00 hectares of forest to two North American pensions funds and a group of New Zealand investors for NZ$725m.
Prudential Timber Investments and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, togeter with the Kiwi Forests Group, plan to buy the Central North Island estate.
The deal, expected to cause a number of redundancies, will see Fletcher return up to NZ$669m to shareholders in two installments during 2004.
Meanwhile, the sale of the 169,000ha forestry estate and some assets of the failed Central North Island Forest Partnership has been finalised with GMO Renewable Resources, which represents Harvard Management Company – the manager of the famous university’s financial assets.
The undisclosed deal, earlier rumoured to be worth up to NZ$650m, involves the purchase of the Timber Management Company, cutting rights to the partnership’s forests, a Silva log export marketing joint venture with Carter Holt Harvey and other assets.
