Hancock Timber Resource Group to acquire Pru Timber for undisclosed sum

Jul 13, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. The Hancock Timber Resource Group announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to acquire Prudential Timber Investments, Inc., the timberland investment management unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed. With the acquisition, HTRG will assume management responsibility for PruTimber's approximately 450,000 acres of timberland worth approximately $660 million. The transaction will bring HTRG's total acreage and assets under management to approximately 2.5 million acres and $3.1 billion. "We regard this acquisition as another significant step forward for the Hancock Timber Resource Group," said Dan Christensen, HTRG's President. "We look forward to welcoming new clients and are excited by the opportunity to increase our assets under management by nearly 25%. This significant increase in assets under management will provide additional economies of scale which ultimately will benefit our investors. In addition, we strengthen our property portfolio, increasing our acreage in the Southern United States, more than doubling our acreage in New Zealand and adding new acreage in South America." The assets currently managed by PruTimber include nearly 235,000 acres in the Southern U.S., more than 20,000 acres in Hawaii and nearly 150,000 acres in New Zealand. The acquisition also will mark HTRG's entry into South America with the addition of nearly 45,000 acres of timberlands in Brazil. "In a global economy, we believe that having access to timber markets around the world will provide excellent long-term opportunities for our clients," Mr. Christensen said. HTRG, a division of the Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc, an operating company of MFC Global Investment Management, manages timberland in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast United States as well as Canada, New Zealand and Australia. MFC Global Investment Management is the institutional asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation. Based in North America with investment offices in Toronto, Boston, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, the firm has more than 100 years of experience managing funds.