ATLANTA, July 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CatchMark
Timber Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CTT) announced today the completion of
its previously announced acquisition of 1.1 million acres of prime
East Texas timberlands for
approximately $1.39 billion in a
joint venture with a consortium of institutional investors,
including BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, Highland Capital
Management, Medley Management Inc., and British Columbia Investment
Management Corporation. The property was sold by Campbell Global,
on behalf of the institutional owners of the property, in one of
the largest U.S. timberlands transactions of the past decade. The
joint venture — operating as Triple T Timberlands — is a
CatchMark-managed affiliate.
Jerry Barag, CatchMark's
President and CEO, said: "Building off our existing East Texas presence, we intend to move quickly
and efficiently to integrate operations under CatchMark with our
former chief operating officer John
Rasor, who became President of Triple T upon closing. Our
intention is to maximize value for our stockholders and partners by
executing on a carefully designed operations plan and implementing
best management practices."
For an investment of $200 million,
CatchMark has tripled the number of acres under its control and
management to approximately 1.6 million acres and significantly
expanded its fee-based asset management business. The innovative
transaction fits CatchMark's profile for acquiring interests in
properties which can provide sustainable growth for its
stockholders. The acquired timberlands have a highly productive
site index and are projected to grow from the current 2.8 million
tons of annual harvest volume to more than five million tons by
2028.
Forest Resource Consultants and American Forest Management are performing land management
and accounting functions, respectively, on the Triple T Timberlands
properties as they do at other CatchMark-owned properties.
Raymond James acted as financial
advisor to CatchMark in the transaction; Alston & Bird LLP and
Smith Gambrell & Russell, LLP served as legal advisors to
CatchMark. Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal advisors to the
group of institutional investors.
About CatchMark
CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. (NYSE:
CTT) is a self-administered and self-managed, publicly-traded REIT
that strives to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for all
stakeholders through disciplined acquisitions, sustainable harvests
and well-timed sales. Headquartered in Atlanta and focused exclusively on timberland
ownership, CatchMark began operations in 2007 and owns interests in
approximately 1.6 million acres of timberlands located in
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee and Texas. For more information, visit
www.catchmark.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our
use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect,"
"intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," or other
similar words. However, the absence of these or similar words or
expressions does not mean that a statement is not
forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of performance and are based on certain assumptions,
discuss future expectations, describe plans and strategies, contain
projections of results of operations or of financial condition or
state other forward-looking information. Forward-looking
statements related to the Triple T Timberlands transaction include,
but are not limited to, statements about the expected benefits of
the transaction, including anticipated financial and operating
results and future returns to stockholders of the company; the
company's plans, objectives, expectations, projections and
intentions; integration plans; projected growth in annual harvest
volume; and other statements that are not historical facts.
Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contemplated by our forward-looking statements including, but not
limited to the risks that the acquired assets and operations may
not be integrated successfully or integration costs may be higher
than anticipated; the expected benefits of and of and growth from
the transaction may not be fully realized or may take longer to
realize than expected; the diversion of management time on
integration-related matters; the potential impact of the
consummation of the proposed transaction on relationships with
customers, suppliers, competitors, and management and other
employees; and litigation risks related to the transaction. With
respect to the ongoing business of the company, these risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (i) we may not
generate the harvest volumes from our timberlands that we currently
anticipate; (ii) the demand for our timber may not increase at the
rate we currently anticipate or at all due to changes in general
economic and business conditions in the geographic regions where
our timberlands are located; (iii) the cyclical nature of the real
estate market generally, including fluctuations in demand and
valuations, may adversely impact our ability to generate income and
cash flow from sales of higher-and-better use properties; (iv)
timber prices may not increase at the rate we currently anticipate
or could decline, which would negatively impact our revenues; (v)
the supply of timberlands available for acquisition that meet our
investment criteria may be less than we currently anticipate; (vi)
we may be unsuccessful in winning bids for timberland that are sold
through an auction process; (vii) we may not be able to access
external sources of capital at attractive rates or at all; (viii)
potential increases in interest rates could have a negative impact
on our business; (ix) our share repurchase program may not be
successful in improving stockholder value over the long-term; (x)
our joint venture strategy may not enable us to access non-dilutive
capital and enhance our ability to make acquisitions; and (xi) the
factors described in Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2017, and our other filings with Securities and Exchange
Commission. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to
update our forward-looking statements, except as required by
law.
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SOURCE CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc.