New Zealand’s Christ’s College, one of the country’s most expensive private schools, has sold a stake in some Wairarapa forestry blocks to the Chinese for an undisclosed sum. Source: Stuff.co.nz
More than 2000 hectares of Wairarapa forests were sold to overseas buyers, according to the Overseas Investment Office.
The sale was because nobody in New Zealand seems to be interested in buying it, according to the vendors.
It was disclosed by Fairfax Media earlier in the year that the Schools Amalgamated Forest Trust was selling three blocks east of Masterton.
The Overseas Investment Office disclosed that the blocks included an 818 hectare block at Purunui Forest, a 815ha block at Maringi Forest and a 732ha block at Putinka Forest.
The consideration or sale amount was withheld under the Official Information Act.
A spokesman for Land Information New Zealand said the sale information had been withheld because the “release of information would be likely to unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is subject to the information”.
Christ’s College owns 70% of the Schools Amalgamated Forest Trust and was contacted for comment about the sale. No comment was available by the time of publication.
Christ’s was badly hit by the 2011 earthquakes and has had to strengthen its buildings.
In 2013 the college faced an “unprecedented” financial shortfall and needed millions of dollars in donations to remedy the “dramatic” impact of the quakes on its heritage buildings.
The college put a plea out to its more than 10,000 old boys, along with past and current parents, to raise funds.
Another Christchurch school, St Margaret’s College also owns a much smaller 1.5% Forest Trust stake.
Other schools with stakes include Dunedin’s St Hilda’s Collegiate School (2.7%), Samuel Marsden Collegiate (15%) and Wellington Diocesan School for Girls (4.5%) and St Mark’s Parish (3.9%).
Industry sources have said the properties were advertised “incredibly widely” in New Zealand in the middle of last year before being offered to the international market.
The sale was made by Schools Amalgamated Forest Trust to Hong Kong’s Golden World International, trading here as Kiwi Forests Investment Ltd, according to the OIO disclosure.
Kiwi Forests has two Auckland-based directors and was incorporated in May 2011.
The Hong Kong company was acquiring a number of forestry plantations in the Wairarapa, which it has committed to replant once harvested, the disclosure says.
Wairarapa forestry consultant Stuart Orme of Woodnet said the New Zealand forestry market was competitive but it was very hard to estimate the price for the Wairarapa blocks.
Remote or geographically locked blocks of forest were the lowest value.
“There’s a lot of forests that are becoming less and less economic … certainly if they are too far away or too hard, they’re not going to get anywhere near what they thought they might have done when they planted them,” he said.
There were several groups in New Zealand buying forests and aggregating area. Another industry commentator agreed prices vary.
Remote forestry land more than 100 kilometres from a port was worth about $NZ1000 a hectare. But well located forests might be worth more than $NZ4000 a hectare.
