Fletcher Challenge Forests Ltd. (A.FFS), a New Zealand forestry exporter, Monday said it plans to "partition its business, separating forest ownership from added value processing, marketing, distribution and forest management activities. The restructure will reduce the amount of capital used in the business and this capital will eventually be returned to shareholders, Chairman Dryden Spring said in a statement to the stock Exchange. Chief Financial Officer John Dell and Chief Operating Office Ian Boyd have been named joint chief executive officers effective April 1. Spring said the decision to "partition" the business "flows from" the strategic review announced last year. The aims of the review are to run the business to world best standards, invest in high profit margin processing and distribution, reduce investment in trees and return surplus capital to shareholders. "Under these strategies, the company intends to further reduce the capital employed in its forests by sourcing substantial external investment into its forest estates," Spring said. "The recent sale of cutting rights to UBS is an important first step in this strategy. Capital released by these activities will be returned to shareholders," he said. The partition is also the "logical next step" in ensuring that the company's objective of "introducing new investors into the ownership of our forest estate" is achieved. "This will allow the company to increase its focus on improving the margin at the value-added processing, marketing and distribution segments of the value chain," he said. Specific details of the company's new structure are still being worked out and Macquarie New Zealand Ltd. has been appointed as advisor. The joint chief executive office structure will see Dell take responsibility for corporate strategy, restructuring initiatives and financial performance in addition to his role as chief financial officer. Boyd will be responsible for all operational activities, growth strategies and external commercial relationships. The appointments are "logical and essential to provide established leadership through a restructuring phase," Spring said. By Stephen Wright, Dow Jones Newswires