Graeme Hart isn't wasting any time with the sale process for Carter Holt Harvey's Building Supplies division - expected to fetch in excess of $2.3 billion.
Hart and Rank Group expect to receive indicative bids by October 12, have due diligence under way by mid-October and receive final
bids by late November.
The timetable is included in a sale flyer being circulated by Hart's bankers.
The Building Supplies business includes Woodproducts NZ, Woodproducts Australia and the Carters retail chain.
The division is projected to have total sales of about $2.2 billion in the 2008 year and ebitda of $305 million.
Rank decided to put the business up for sale after getting unsolicited inquiries from parties interested in acquiring the whole business, the flyer says.
The sale of the business in parts hasn't been ruled out.
A trade sale or a transaction involving private equity interests is understood to be the most likely outcome.
Since Hart paid $3.3 billion for Carter Holt Harvey and delisted the top-tier company early last year he has sold most of its forests for somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, and the company's head office, various retail depots and packaging plants to Australia's Valad Property Group for just over $300 million.
