Rayonier Announces Sale of 115,250 Acres of Timberland in Washington

Rayonier Inc. recently announced that it is selling 115,250 acres of timberland in Washington that it has owned for almost 80 years, the Peninsula Daily News reported (4-19-24). Bids for the property are due June 6th.

The sale, part of “Project Teal,” is broken into four units across west Clallam and Jefferson counties in an area stretching from north of Beaver to south of Oil City. According to Rayonier’s website, the company owned 474,000 acres of timberland across Washington and Oregon as of September 2023.

The acres will be broken into three units of mostly equivalent size—with a fourth, smaller unit located north of Lake Crescent—also available, the Peninsula Daily News reported. Units for sale include the North Clallam Unit of 40,800 acres, the South Clallam Unit of 36,985 acres, and the Jefferson Unit of 31,344 acres. The fourth unit, 6,100-acre Joyce Unit, will be available to any party that submits a competitive bid for one or more of the three main units.

The sale is being managed by LandVest, a luxury real estate brokerage headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. According to its website, “This asset has been intensively managed through several rotations with industry-leading tree genetics and market-driven silviculture practices, which a future owner will benefit from for decades to come. Project Teal has a unique combination of strong biological growth coupled with a rich ecosystem comprised of diverse plant and animal species, making it an excellent investment opportunity for timber, carbon, and conservation-oriented investors.”

In an email to the Peninsula Daily News, Rayonier spokesperson Alejandro Barbero said the company announced in November 2023 it would be selling $1 billion worth of assets over the next 18 months. “Given the significant disparity between private timberland values and the company’s public market valuation, we see an arbitrage opportunity to divest select assets in our portfolio, use the proceeds to pay down debt, close the gap between private and public timberland values, and return capital to shareholders.”

“The plan was designed to strengthen the company’s balance sheet proactively and mitigate debt refinancing exposure,” Barbero said. The first step in Rayonier’s restructuring plan was the sale of 55,000 acres of Oregon timberland, which sold for $242 million last year.