New Forests announced that it has reached agreement to purchase approximately 4200 hectares of freehold land and softwood plantations from the Flight Group. Source: Scoop NZ
The plantations consist of radiata pine and are located in the Marlborough region of New Zealand’s South Island.
The agreement forms part of a larger transaction by Flight Group, including the purchase of the Flight Timbers sawmilling assets by Timberlink, an Australian timber products processor that is also an investee company of New Forests.
Completion of the plantation purchase by New Forests is subject to approval by the Overseas Investment Office.
New Forests is a Sydney-based fund manager with more than $2.5 billion in assets under management including the Timberlink business and more than 620,000 hectares of forests, rural land, and conservation investments on behalf of institutional clients.
The company has extensive experience investing in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Timberlink manages two softwood sawmills in Australia as well as the associated sales and distribution network, which provide high-quality plantation pine building products to the Australian market.
“The planned acquisition of the high-quality Flight Forests will expand New Forests’ presence in New Zealand to a total of more than 12,000 hectares of softwood plantations,” said David Brand, CEO of New Forests.
“This is an opportunity for our investors to gain exposure to a mature, well-managed plantation estate with access to a domestic processing plant managed by Timberlink.”
