Timbercorp’s forestry assets have been sold to a US-based company in a $345 million deal, which includes $198 million for investor growers.
The business will trade under the name Australian Bluegum Plantations (ABP) in Australia. The name of the company in the US is Global Forest Partners (GFP), which advises an international forestry investment fund. The company emerged as the winner from a process that included seven international and Australian bidders.
The GFP director of Asia Pacific Investments, Michael Edgar, said a simpler ownership structure would be in place under the new management, with Edgar saying there would be no managed investment schemes going forward.
Edgar said the investment capital for the purchase came from various international and Australian superannuation funds, charitable foundations and other institutional investors.
The deal includes 92,000 hectares of plantations, 39,000 hectares of freehold land, leasehold rights to 53,000 hectares as well as the business infrastructure.
The plantations are in Western Australia and the Green Triangle region of Victoria and South Australia.
