Sharechat Logo

Northland forest changes hands again

Wednesday 12th January 2011

Text too small?

The 11,000ha Mangakahia forest near Dargaville in Northland is the main asset in a $US77 ($NZ101) million forestry deal among foreign owners reported to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Hong Kong-listed Greenheart Group, which changed its name from Omnicorp, said it is buying MFV, which owns 13,000ha of freehold land with radiata pine plantations, the largest of which is Mangakahia, from its controlling shareholder Sino-Forest Corp for $US77 million. Sino-Forest is a forest plantation owner listed on the Toronto stock exchange.

Greenheart plans to raise $US37 million via a share issue to help fund the transaction. The $US40 million balance will be funded through a loan either provided by or guaranteed by Sino-Forest, which has some 726,000ha of tree plantations across China.

In October last year New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office granted approval for Sino-Forest to buy the Mangakahia forest from GFP Mangakahia Forest Venture, which was associated with global forest investor Global Forest Partners. The value of that transaction was not disclosed.

At that time Sino-Forest was 30% owned by the Canadian public, and 6.8% owned by the Singapore government. US investors held 20.9%, Paulson & Co of the US had 16.3% and Davis Advisors of the US had 12.8%. The vendor had Saudi Arabian, US, Danish, Australian and Swiss shareholders.

Greenheart is to become a vehicle for forest asset ownership and as part of the agreement, it has the option to sell up to $US210 million worth of logs, standing timber, agri-forest, timber-related and other agri-related products to Sino-Forest over the next three years.

"China's demand for New Zealand radiata pine has increased significantly with New Zealand being the second-largest exporter of softwood into China after Russia," Greenheart chief executive and Sino-Forest vice-chairman Judson Martin said.

"Bringing these New Zealand assets into our portfolio is the first major initiative of our profitable investment and sustainable growth strategy for 2011."

Sino-Forest has a controlling 59% in Greenheart.

Foreign ownership of New Zealand farmland has been an issue, particularly as the global financial crisis has triggered a number of transactions.

Many of the plantation forests in Northland were developed by New Zealand Forest Products, which became part of Carter Holt Harvey. Carter Holt Harvey is now owned by New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, who is developing a global beverage packaging business.

Carter Holt once had a 330,000ha forest estate, which has been sold. In 2005, 95,000ha of its forests were sold for $NZ441 million.

 

NZPA



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report