Forests and windfarm with £130m price tag
Three neighbouring forests and a wind farm in Perthshire have been put on the market for £130 million.
Located in the Tay Valley and totalling 5630 hectares, the assets are for sale as a whole or in two lots.
The offer comprises of three forests Griffin, Ballinloan A and Moness - which, along with the wind farm, form the majority of the Griffin Forest Complex.
The complex as a whole dominates the hillside south of Aberfeldy, with the sale managed by selling agent Savills.
The area is marketed as “well located” for local timber markets in Dunkeld and Stirling, as well as major national markets.
Ready access to the A9, an artery to both north and south and the main transport route in the Central Highlands, provides access from the forests to a range of timber milling and processing facilities.
Lot one includes Griffin Forest, Ballinloan A Forest and Griffin Wind Farm with offers over £105m.
Lot two includes Moness Forest with offers over £25m.
Griffin Forest extends to 4245 hectares and Ballinloan A totals 154 hectares.
Predominantly spruce, the other conifers include areas of larch, pine and fir planted for species diversity.
There is also a small area of veteran Scots pine around Loch Kennard which dates from pre-1860.
The forest includes an extensive area of open land with communities of rich alpineartic flora and other critical habitats.
Within the open area, the lochs provide an “interesting feature” with a total 45 hectares of open water.
Griffin Wind Farm has been operational since 2012 and has 39 turbines, each with a rated capacity of 2.3MW.
It is located within Griffin and Ballinloan A Forests, providing a “complementary diversified revenue stream” for buyers.
The current term of the wind farm lease extends to 2037.
Moness is located west of Griffin, and extends to about 1389 hectares.
The productive timber consists of pure stands of Sitka spruce, with minor components of other conifers providing diversity throughout.
The majority of the current timber crop was planted in the 1980s.
James Adamson, Savills head of forestry investment, said: “Forestry is an exciting and established investment asset class and one of the few that offers proven financial returns with true sustainability credentials.
“Opportunities of this scale are rare in the UK market and, coupled with the complementary income from the wind farm, the assets provide an excellent longterm home for capital, with strong income generating potential.”
Perth and Kinross has over 80,000 hectares of woodland and forests and is known as ‘big tree country’, containing some of the most spectacular stands of both hard and softwood tree species in Scotland.
The forest assets at Griffin and Moness deliver a “measurable contribution” towards climate change mitigation and help to improve biodiversity, with an estimated two million tonnes of stored carbon in around five million trees, 1800 hectares of open space, and a wide range of species and habitats.
Nick Green, Savills head of energy, added: “The rent from the wind farm comprises both an uncapped index linked fixed rent and a rent linked to the performance of the wind farm. This attractive predictable income stream balances well with the value created by the biological growth of the forest.”