FOREST PUT UP FOR SALE AT £27.5M
ONE of the largest privately owned commercial forests in Wales has gone on the market for £27.5m.
Llanbrynmair Forest, near Mallwyd in Powys, extends to 5,342 acres and stretches nearly nine miles across.
Harvesting only started there five years ago and the site has an option agreement with a wind energy developer, subject to planning.
Agent Savills said it was rare opportunity to acquire a large-scale commercial forest in Wales.
“In the context of the local market, this forest is exceptional,” said Rhydian Scurlock-Jones, director of Savills Telford.
“As the average woodland plot sale equates to around 37 acres, there has been little scope for institutional investors to buy here over recent years.”
The forest is made up of several individual plantations that were brought together into a single ownership.
Sitting on a plateau around Carnedd Wen, the first commercial planting took place in 1960.
The forest was then established over multiple phases, with the most recent replanting taking place in 2019.
The trees have an average age of 32 years, with Sitka Spruce accounting for more than 70% of the forest’s total area.
As harvesting began only recently, Savills said the forest will have a regular supply of timber for at least the next 20 years.
The estimated volume of timber available over the first rotation is in excess of 550,000 tonnes.
Two areas of timber are currently being felled on 92ha under standing sales contracts, due to end on May 31. This timber is excluded from the sale.
Current sales are averaging 560 tonnes per hectare, generating around £39,000 per hectare.
The forest has a well-established networks of internal roads and tracks with connections to the A458.
Savills said the Llanbrynmair site offered good prospects for buyers, its size enabling investors to “store value” at a time when forestry values were enjoying long-term increases.
As well as the prospect of windfarm development, the site has potential for peatland and habitat restoration in areas where average timber growth is slower.
James Adamson, head of forestry investment at Savills, added: “Due to the limited size of the UK market, finding a single commercial forest of this scale and productive capacity is very rare indeed.
“This is effectively a once-in-alifetime opportunity.”
Offers for the forest are invited in excess of £27,500,000.