We are pleased to announce that on 30 September 2021, China Merchants Securities (HK) Co., Limited (“CMS (HK) ”, a subsidiary of China Merchants Securities International Company Limited) , acting as the sole financial advisor of Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co., Ltd (“Sinotrans CSC”) and Sinotrans New Zealand Limited’s (“Sinotrans NZ”), successfully assisted the sellers to sell their controlling stake in Wenita Forest Products Limited (“Wenita” or “Target Company”).
Wenita is the largest producer of timber in Otago, New Zealand, across almost 30,000 hectares of sustainably managed forests. With a history spanning three decades, Wenita is widely recognized as one of the premier softwood plantation assets in New Zealand. The buyer is a consortium mainly composed by well-known overseas pension funds APG Asset Management (APG) and Pension Protection Fund (PPF). According to the sale and purchase agreement, the consortium acquired the controlling shares from Sinotrans NZ and the shareholder loans provided by Sinotrans CSC. The consortium entrusted the Australian fund New Forests to manage the Target Company.
As the sole financial advisor for the overseas M&A project, CMS (HK) has made outstanding and significant contributions to the project in terms of project execution and completion, including: representing the sellers in finding potential buyers at the initial stage; conducting commercial negotiations with potential buyers; designing the transaction structure; coordinating the due diligence with multi-parties and assisting to receive relevant approval from domestic and overseas regulatory authorities. With the full cooperation of the sellers, CMS (HK) assisted the seller to successfully complete the sale of the controlling stake smoothly.
About Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co., Ltd (“Sinotrans CSC”)
Sinotrans CSC was reorganized and established by China National Foreign Trade Transportation (Group) Corporation (Sinotrans) and the China Changjiang National Shipping (Group) Corporation (CSC) in March 2009. It is currently a subsidiary of China Merchants Group Co., Ltd. Sinotrans CSC, through its subsidiary Sinotrans NZ, has the controlling shares in Wenita. Due to the strategic and development plan, Sinotrans CSC intends to focus on its main business section and therefore needs to sale the relevant shareholding in Wenita.
About APG Asset Management (APG)
APG is the largest pension provider in the Netherlands; its approximately 3,000 employees provide executive consultancy, asset management, pension administration, pension communication and employer services. APG performs these services on behalf of (pension) funds and employers in the sectors of education, government, construction, cleaning and window cleaning, housing associations, energy and utility companies, sheltered employment organizations, and medical specialists. APG manages approximately €620 billion (August 2021) in pension assets for the pension funds in these sectors. APG works for approximately 22,000 employers, providing the pension for one in five families in the Netherlands (about 4.7 million participants). APG has offices in Heerlen, Amsterdam, Brussels, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
About the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is a public corporation, set up by the Pensions Act 2004, and has been protecting members of eligible defined benefit (DB) pension schemes across the UK since 2005. The PPF is run by an independent Board and accountable to Parliament through the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions. The PPF is one of the UK’s largest asset owners with more than £36 billion of assets under management. It also administers the government’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and across both the PPF and FAS looks after more than 425,000 members.
About New Forests
New Forests is a global investment manager offering high-impact strategies in sustainable forestry and related sectors, with AUD 6 billion (USD 4.5 billion) in assets under management across 1 million hectares (2.4 million acres) of investments. New Forests’ investment portfolio consists of sustainable forest plantations, areas of natural forest conservation, carbon projects, rural land and row-cropping, and timber processing.