CNI receiver denies in talks with China's CITIC

By NZPA

Tuesday 15th October 2002

The receiver for the Central North Island Forestry Partnership today denied a report that it was in talks with Chinese company Citic for the sale of the 165,000ha asset.

"We are not in negotiations with Citic at the present time to buy the forest," said receiver Michael Stiassny of Ferrier Hodgson , in a statement.

Yesterday the state-run Chinese financial conglomerate was reported to have said from Beijing that its officials were negotiating to buy outright the assets of the massive forestry operation.

Citic and Fletcher Forest were the previous owners before the CNI went into receivership.

Then in August, another attempt by the two companies to buy into CNI was rejected by Fletcher shareholders.

A spokesman for the general planning division of Citic said senior officials were involved in sensitive negotiations with CNI's receiver. He told Dow Jones Newswires that the terms of a deal could not be revealed until talks were finalised.

British-based Guinness Peat Group has also said it was in talks with Ferrier Hodgson. GPG was instrumental in toppling the buyout offer led by Fletcher Challenge Forests.

Under that offer Citic, which is controlled by China's State Council, would have taken a 35 percent stake in Fletcher Forests. The move was opposed by GPG, which has a 19.9 percent stake in Rubicon, which in turn holds 17.6 percent in Fletcher Forests.

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