Australia's largest forestry fund manager, New Forests, backed by Japan's Mitsui Group, is having another go at selling a portfolio of 24 Victorian eucalyptus plantations.
New Forests, which manages $3.6 billion of forestry assets in Australia, New Zealand, south-east Asia and the US, is offering the plantations which cover 2600 hectares of freehold land in Victoria's Colac Otway region under sale and leaseback arrangements, allowing it to retain management of the properties until the conclusion of each harvest.
Pricing expectations are understood to be around $15 million for the portfolio as a whole compared with a $20 million-plus price tag when the plantations were offered for sale last year with the trees included.
Located between Geelong and Portland, the portfolio consists of properties ranging in size from 30 hectares to 240 hectares, including some harvested properties that will be available for purchase with vacant possession. The bulk of the properties will be harvested by New Forests over the next six to seven years.
CBRE's Peter Ryan, who has been appointed to steer the sale process in conjunction with Jarrod Ryan, said as investments the portfolio would generate a yield of about 5 per cent with the opportunity to revert them to their previous agricultural uses once fully harvested.
Mr Ryan said the portfolio represented "an outstanding opportunity to acquire attractively priced land in a reliable, high rainfall agricultural region".
"Previous to its current use as a timber plantation, the properties were utilised for either high value dairy or grazing – and provide significant scope for reversion to these uses," Mr Ryan said.
"Alternatively, post-harvest, the properties are suitable to replant to a range of timber species, with their location ideal for plantation management being situated within haulage range to export ports at Geelong and Portland, and also close to processing facilities at Colac, Geelong and Portland."
The Otway Portfolio is being offered for sale either as a portfolio, individual properties or any combination to suit buyer requirements.
New Forests was founded in 2005 by forestry veteran David Brand and manages 780,000 hectares of land and forests.
Mr Brand built up the company through the acquisition of distressed forestry assets following the collapse of managed investment scheme operators such as Great Southern and Timbercorp in 2009.
Earlier this month, New Forests, on behalf of its Tropical Asia Forest Fund, acquired an 85 per cent interest in 22,000 hectares of hardwood plantations in Laos.
Correction
An earlier version of this article said New Forests is backed by the Future Fund. This is incorrect and has been removed.
