Weyerhaeuser Completes Sale of Washington Timberlands to Hancock Timber
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Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., USA, this week completed the sale of some 82,000 acres of timberlands in southwestern Washington to the Hancock Timber Resource Group, Boston, Mass., for approximately $200 million. This will contribute approximately $150 million to Weyerhaeuser's earnings in the first quarter. The sale is part of an ongoing process to optimize the company's timberlands portfolio to ensure its ownership fits the long-term strategic needs of the company.
"Today's sale represents the continued efforts to strategically rebalance our timberlands," said Dan Fulton, Weyerhaeuser president and CEO. "We have a competitive advantage in growing and processing Douglas fir, and the sale focuses our Western operations on managing that species. While the land sold is high-quality, productive timberlands, it no longer fits our long-term strategic plan."
Following the sale, Weyerhaeuser will own or manage more than one million acres of timberland in Washington and will operate in more than 20 locations, including its corporate headquarters in Federal Way. Weyerhaeuser employs nearly 3,800 people in the region. Nationwide, the company will continue to own and manage more than six million acres of timberland.
"Trees and land are the core of the company," Fulton said. "We are the largest private landowner in the Pacific Northwest, and we remain committed to this region for the long term."
The Hancock Timber Resource Group, a division of Hancock Natural Resource Group, an operating company of Manulife Asset Management, manages approximately 5.3 million acres of timberland across the U.S. and in Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
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