Overseas investment decision for case 201720119 - OneFortyOne Plantations Holdings Pty Ltd and OneFortyOne NZ Holdings Limited

An overseas investment in sensitive land and significant business assets, being the Applicant's acquisition of rights or interests in 100% of the Shares of Nelson Forests Limited which owns or controls freehold and beneficial interests in approximately 25,114.6115 hectares of land at:

• Awatere Forest (approximately 663 ha),
• Brightwater Forest (approximately (163 ha),
• Kainui Forest (approximately 2,917 ha),
• Korere Forest (approximately 716 ha),
• Linkwater Forest (approximately 145 ha),
• Moutere Forest (approximately 686 ha),
• Opouri Forest (approximately 351 ha),
• Rainy River Forest (approximately 1451 ha),
• Serpentine Forest (approximately 634 ha),
• Te Hepe Forest (approximately 650 ha),
• Wairau Crown Forestry Licenced Land (approximately 9,454 ha),
• Wairau South Forest (approximately 5,815 ha),
• Wakamarina Forest (approximately 1,435 ha), and
• Kaituna Sawmill (approximately 33 ha).

The Applicant is an Australian incorporated company that owns forestry assets in South Australia and Victoria, including approximately 80,000 hectares of radiata pine and a sawmill and woodchip operation. This will be the Applicant’s first investment in the New Zealand forestry industry.

The target company, Nelson Forests Limited, has an extensive forestry estate in New Zealand, including approximately 25,114 hectares of sensitive land and the Kaituna Sawmill. It also holds around 51,000 hectares in Crown Forestry Licences or forestry rights (which are not sensitive land under the Overseas Investment Act 2005).

The Investment is expected to result in a substantial and identifiable benefit to New Zealand. The Applicant intends to continue existing supply agreements with domestic processors and undertake measures to increase domestic processing, including exploration of long-term supply contracts, forecast of uncommitted harvest volume to New Zealand processors and a feasibility study into increasing domestic processing. The Investment is also likely to advance the Government's strategy to plant one billion trees between 2018 and 2027.

The Applicant has committed to additional protection for significant areas of indigenous vegetation and to create additional public access. It also intends to implement a graduate programme and a school leavers’ programme to assist young people enter careers in the forestry industry. It will also undertake measures aimed at control of wilding trees.