Sale of Carter Holt forests completed

The $435 million sale of 94,300ha of Carter Holt Harvey's forests to an American-led consortium has been completed.

American company Rayonier and RREEF Infrastructure, the global infrastructure arm of Deutsche Asset Management, have bought the assets.

Through the deal, Rayonier has become the third largest forest owner/manager in New Zealand.

The sales agreement was initially entered into on July 15. Since then a number of conditions have been met, including approval from the Overseas Investment Commission.

CHH, which now owns 220,000ha of forests, is currently the subject of a $2.50 per share full takeover offer by billionaire businessman Graeme Hart's Rank Group. The offer values CHH at $3.27 billion.

Shares in CHH last traded yesterday at $2.53.

- NZPA