Year-to-date CatchMark has acquired approximately 121,500 acres of prime timberland throughout the Southern fiber basket, expanding its timberland holdings by 44% and increasing its projected annual harvest volume in the range of 49% to 55%, or 540,000 to 590,000 tons. The acquisitions have been in keeping with a company strategy of enhancing long-term value for stockholders and providing durable earnings to grow its dividend by increasing harvest volumes and improving product mix.
Acquisition of approximately 947,000 tons of merchantable timber inventory and enhancement of the company's overall product mix - the Beauregard inventory comprises 76% convertible pine upland acres and 65% sawtimber by tons.
The transaction was financed through CatchMark's credit facility.
Jerry Barag, CatchMark's President and CEO, said: "This transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings during 1Q 2015. We plan to continue to actively seek excellent value in expanding our holdings of extremely high quality timberlands, meeting our objectives for increasing our earnings and dividend."
CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. is a self-administered and self-managed publicly traded REIT that began operations in 2007 and owns interests in approximately 397,100 acres of timberland located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
