UBS retained to sell GFP forest assets | 03 August 2017

Forestry investment manager Global Forest Partners has hired investment bank UBS to sell its pine plantation business in New Zealand.

It’s understood Global Forest Partners has asked UBS to commence a sale process for Nelson Forests Ltd, which owns more than 60,000 hectares of pine plantations in New Zealand’s Nelson and Marlborough regions.

The business also includes the Kaituna Sawmill.

UBS is expected to pitch the forestry assets to potential buyers in coming months. The owners announced they were considering selling the business last month.

Global Forestry Partners and its predecessors have owned the Nelson estate assets for the past 25 years. Nelson Management Ltd, which runs the forestry business, is owned by Nelson Forests Ltd.

Global Forest Partners is one of the world’s oldest and largest forestry investment advisers and manages about $US3.1 billion in forestry assets in eleven closed-end funds. It was founded in 1982 and spent almost a decade as part of UBS. The fund manager has been employee- owned since 2003.

Global Forest Partners’ investments include assets in Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Source: Financial Review