An announcement is imminent about the sale of the assets of the Central North Island Forestry Partnership in New Zealand which went into receivership in February.
The failure of the partnership between Fletcher Challenge Forests and the Chinese Citic group left 190,000ha of trees, worth some NZ$2bn, without an owner.
Industry insiders say three bids for the company have been submitted – one from Fletcher, one from Citic and a third from a consortium led by Carter Holt Harvey.
Wayne Coffey, executive director of the Timber Industry Federation has been reported as saying he does not care who ends up buying the huge forest asset. ‘We just don’t want a repeat of the incompetence that has been demonstrated over the past five years.’
