Mar. 10 at 10:15 PM
$RYN Rayonier to sell New Zealand joint venture interest for
$710M
Rayonier and The Rohatyn Group announced an agreement for Rayonier to sell the entities that hold its entire 77% interest in the New Zealand joint venture to a special purpose vehicle formed by Ents LP, an investment fund managed by TRG, for
$710M, subject to net debt, working capital, and other adjustments. This sale marks the conclusion of Rayonier's previously announced strategic review of its New Zealand business and will result in Rayonier becoming exclusively focused on its U.S. operations, while positioning the New Zealand business for continued growth under TRG's management.
The transaction is expected to close in 2025, subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. The sale price of
$710M for Rayonier's 77% interest implies an enterprise value for the New Zealand joint venture of
$922M, representing multiples of 18x three-year average EBITDA and 30x three-year average timber-only EBITDA. Proceeds from the transaction will be used by Rayonier to further reduce leverage, return capital to shareholders through special dividends and/or share repurchases, reinvest in synergistic acquisitions, and/or fund other capital allocation priorities.
Rayonier expects that the transaction will be modestly accretive to pro forma CAD per share, before factoring in the impact of any special dividends associated with the transaction. Rayonier further expects that pro forma net debt to pro forma adjusted EBITDA will decrease to approximately 0.3x as a result of the transaction, before factoring in the impact of any special dividends or other use of proceeds. Assuming the transaction closes, Rayonier currently anticipates a special dividend for 2025 of
$1.00 to
$1.40 per share-details of which will be announced later this year. Similar to the special dividend declared in December 2024, Rayonier expects that the 2025 special dividend will be paid in a combination of cash and shares.
