Forestry investment manager New Forests announced that its Australia New Zealand Forest Fund 2 (ANZFF2) has acquired a 38% shareholding in Wenita Forest Products Ltd (Wenita) and 100% of the land from the Otago Land Company, which holds 22,500 hectares of freehold land on which Wenita operates via forestry rights.
New Forests is acquiring the assets from The Rohatyn Group (TRG), a specialised asset management firm with expertise in emerging markets and real assets, which first purchased the Wenita shareholding in 2005 in a joint venture with Chinese logistics company Sinotrans and 100% of the OLC land in 2006. The transaction marks the successful completion and full investment of the AUD 707 million ANZFF2 fund.
Wenita is the largest softwood timber producer in New Zealand’s Otago region with a 29,200-hectare estate growing primarily radiata pine. Wenita maintains Forest Stewardship Council® certification of responsible forest management and has high standards for care of the environment, worker safety, and the quality of its forests and timber.
New Forests manages AUD 4.5 billion in assets and funds under management, with more than 940,000 hectares of forests, land, and conservation investments in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and the United States.
