Maori corporation unhappy with CHH forests sale

The Maori corporation that owns some of the land on which Carter Holt Harvey's forests are planted is exploring its legal options about the sale of the forests.

Te Kuiti-based Kokakotaea Forestry Corporation's (KFCL) three shareholders own 10,000ha of the 275,000ha estate that CHH owner Graeme Hart put on the block in June.

Boston-based Hancock Timber Resource Group this week said it had bought the forests for an undisclosed sum.

KFCL director Merilyn Connolly told today's Dominion Post the first she had heard of the sale was through media reports.

KFCL had expected, as the landowner, that any would-be buyer would talk to them about reassigning of leases before any sale was completed.

They were "right at this very moment" taking legal advice on the sale.

Ms Connolly also said resource consents were required before the trees could be harvested "and we have to agree to that".

- NZPA