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A retirement fund for Australian academics and Perpetual, one of Australia's best-known fund managers, are among the buyers of the Carter Holt Harvey forest estate.
The sale of the estate by Graeme Hart, New Zealand's richest man, is the biggest forestry transaction ever in New Zealand. Its completion was announced yesterday.
The sale price was not disclosed but it was believed to be between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
Hancock Timber Resource Group said it had completed the purchase of 200,000ha of forests from Carter Holt Harvey.
Hart bought Carter Holt for $3.3 billion and removed it from the stock exchange.
Hancock, based in the United States, is owned by Canadian financial services giant Manulife Financial. It puts together investments in forests for mutual and endowment funds and rich individuals.
The purchase of the bulk of the former Carter Holt estate makes Hancock the biggest manager of forests in New Zealand. It now oversees 296,000ha of forests for a range of investors. The second-largest estate is owned by Harvard University's endowment fund.
The Carter Holt transaction was controversial because local iwi, which own land some of the forests are on, wanted to be involved, but Hart opted for a bulk sale.
Hancock yesterday revealed that two Australian funds - UniSuper and Perpetual Investment Management's Diversified Infrastructure Fund - were two of the investors behind the transaction.
UniSuper was a retirement fund servicing Australian universities and Perpetual a diversified financial services group in Australia.
Hancock said the forests would be managed "with a long-term, sustainable perspective that benefits the environment, the community and our clients".
- NZPA
