Read the Rayonier Press Release on Business Wire
Adams and Reese served as legal counsel to Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) in the publicly traded company’s four timberland dispositions totaling 200,000 acres in Oklahoma and Washington. The deals total an aggregate purchase of $495 million.
Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Rayonier owns or leases under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S. South (1.84 million acres), U.S. Pacific Northwest (417,000 acres) and New Zealand (411,000 acres).
The dispositions consist of approximately 91,000 acres in Southeast Oklahoma and 109,000 acres on the Olympic Peninsula in Northwest Washington. The properties were sold through four separate transactions to high-caliber institutional investors. The dispositions align with the company’s previously stated goal of enhancing shareholder value by capitalizing on the disconnect between public and private timberland values and reducing leverage amid a higher interest rate environment.
The Adams and Reese Forestry Team was led by Real Estate Team Leader April Smith, Mobile attorneys David Johnson, Bradley Sanders, Jonathan Davis, Caleb Smoke and paralegals Joni Huddleston and Nicole Bourg; attorneys Alex Bondurant and Philip Hollimon in Jackson; and attorneys Jordan Barley and Sean Buckley in Houston.
Since launching its forestry practice in the 1990s, Adams and Reese has built a national reputation as trusted counsel and advocates in the timber industry, protecting clients’ assets, completing strategic transactions, and working with regulators on securing necessary certifications and navigating federal, state, and local rules and regulations.
Adams and Reese attorneys and advisors manage transactions such as land and timber acquisitions, mill sales, financing, fiber supply agreements, real estate development, and title insurance. The team also advises on land management, covering contracts, forest sustainability certification, litigation, dispute resolution, endangered species, wetlands, taxes, oil and gas, and wildlife. Representation also includes guidance and legislative advocacy for green forestry, including wind and solar energy, carbon sequestration, and conservation.