Two of the South’s leading timberland owners announced plans to merge on Oct. 14, creating an $8.2 billion forestry giant that will move its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia.
Rayonier, Inc. and PotlatchDeltic Corp. said on Oct. 14 that their all-stock merger will create a land resources real estate investment trust with a market value of $7.1 billion, including an additional $1.1 billion in net debt.
With a combined timber portfolio of roughly 4.2 million acres, the newly formed company would be North America’s second-largest publicly traded lumber owner and wood products producer behind Weyerhaeuser, which owns and controls about 10.4 million acres of timberlands in the United States and millions more in Canada….