Rayonier Completes Timberland Acquisitions in U.S. South, Pacific Northwest
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Rayonier Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., USA, this week announced that it has acquired approximately 18,000 acres of high-quality timberlands in southwest Louisiana and northwest Oregon in two separate transactions from BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group. Both properties are located near existing Rayonier landholdings:
- The Louisiana property—known as the King parcel—consists of approximately 12,200 acres of high quality, well managed southern pine timberland located in strong timber markets. The property was purchased for $25.5 million. It contains merchantable inventory of approximately 560,000 tons, is comprised of approximately 86% plantable lands, and is expected to improve the company’s sustainable yield by approximately 45,000 tons per year. This acquisition expands Rayonier’s ownership in Louisiana to approximately 150,000 acres.
- The Oregon property—known as the Scappoose parcel—consists of approximately 5,600 acres of highly productive, well-stocked and highly-operable timberland tributary to strong domestic and export markets in the northwest corner of the state, near current company holdings in southwest Washington. The property was purchased for $34 million. It complements the age-class profile of the company’s Pacific Northwest timber holdings, contains merchantable inventory of approximately 102,000 tons (12.7 MMBF) of which an estimated 95% is high-value Douglas-fir, is comprised of approximately 88% operable lands, and is expected to improve the company’s sustainable yield by approximately 35,000 tons (4.4 MMBF) per year. This acquisition expands Rayonier’s footprint into the state of Oregon and grows Rayonier’s total Pacific Northwest ownership to approximately 374,000 acres.
The company also acquired approximately 4,600 acres located in Florida and Georgia in the second quarter of 2015 through a series of small transactions with non-industrial private landowners. Year-to-date, Rayonier has acquired 35,000 acres of high quality timberland in the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest for a total of approximately $88 million.
"We are pleased to close these two acquisitions with BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group," said David Nunes, Rayonier president and CEO. "The properties have been well-managed and are high-quality assets located in strong timber markets. These transactions reflect our disciplined growth strategy to focus on select acquisitions that upgrade our land portfolio, grow our sustainable harvest and generate accretion to our cash available for distribution per share."
