Pursuant to previously announced strategic initiatives, Forestar Group
Inc. (NYSE: FOR) today announced that it entered into a definitive
agreement with Holland M. Ware, to sell approximately 20,000 acres of
HBU timberland in Georgia for approximately $39.5 million in a cash
transaction.
The transaction is expected to close third quarter 2009. The company
intends to use proceeds from this sale to reduce debt.
“This sale represents another significant step in executing our
strategic initiatives. We have executed definitive agreements with
investors for the sale of approximately 95,000 acres of timberland in
Georgia and Alabama for almost $160 million, including $120 million
which was completed on June 16, 2009. We firmly believe these strategic
initiatives will enhance shareholder value,” said Jim DeCosmo, president
and chief executive officer.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor and Sutherland Asbill &
Brennan LLP served as legal advisor to Forestar in connection with the
transaction.
About Forestar Group
Forestar Group Inc. operates in three business segments: real estate,
mineral resources and fiber resources. The real estate segment owns
directly or through ventures over 288,000 acres of real estate located
in ten states and thirteen markets in the U.S. The real estate segment
has 25 real estate projects representing almost 34,000 acres currently
in the entitlement process, and 78 entitled, developed and under
development projects in eight states and twelve markets encompassing
over 17,000 acres, comprised of almost 30,000 residential lots and over
2,200 commercial acres. The mineral resources segment manages about
622,000 net acres of oil and gas mineral interests. The fiber resources
segment sells wood fiber from its land primarily located in Georgia, and
leases land for recreational uses. The company also has a 45%
nonparticipating royalty interest in groundwater produced or withdrawn
for commercial purposes from approximately 1.38 million acres in Texas,
Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama. Forestar’s address on the World Wide Web
is www.forestargroup.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of
the federal securities laws. These statements reflect management’s
current views with respect to future events and are subject to risk and
uncertainties. We note that a variety of factors and uncertainties could
cause our actual results to differ significantly from the results
discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors and uncertainties
that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to:
general economic, market, or business conditions; the availability of
loans and fluctuations in the credit markets; the opportunities (or lack
thereof) that may be presented to us and that we may pursue;
fluctuations in costs and expenses including development costs; demand
for new housing, including impacts from mortgage credit availability;
lengthy and uncertain entitlement processes; cyclicality of our
businesses; accuracy of accounting assumptions; competitive actions by
other companies; changes in laws or regulations; changes in federal
energy policies; demand for oil and gas; and other factors, many of
which are beyond our control. Except as required by law, we expressly
disclaim any obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking
statements contained in this news release to reflect the occurrence of
events after the date of this release.
Forestar Group Inc.
Chris L. Nines, 512-433-5210
