Forestry sector warns of threat from lack of softwood planting
a group of bondholders, led by US hedge funds aurelius Capital Management and Silver point Capital and advised by investment bank Moelis & Co, tabled an alternative plan for more debt to be converted into shares, leaving Co-op with a minority stake.
Sutherland said it had been a “hugely difficult” time for the mutual, which also runs supermarkets, a travel agency and funeral services.
He added: “We have reached an agreement in principle that saves the Co-operative Bank. this is as a result of months of work and intensive discussions and negotiations with our key stakeholders and investors.
“Most importantly, we have to build a fair and attractive proposal for small investors, the hard-working families across Britain that have invested in the Co-op Bank, and i’m confident that we have done this and we’ll be able to announce the details of all these measures in the coming days.”
Co-op Bank, which has about 4.7 million customers, admitted in august that it would take several years to return to profit after slumping to a £709.4m loss in the first half of the year.
the firm, which also revealed yesterday that is was facing an extra charge of up to £105m to cover issues such as mis-sold payment protection insur- SCotLaND’S £1 billion forestry industry will come under threat from a lack of softwood if the Scottish Government does not raise support for planting, the sector’s trade body has warned.
Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor, called for ministers to increase forestry grants from £36 million to £45m to incentivise landowners to plant trees – such as furs, pines and spruces – instead of taking common agricultural policy (Cap) subsidies.
Goodall said: “We’ve been seeing a decrease in the area of softwood in Scotland as we modernise our forests and make them more diverse.
“We’ve seen huge growth in the industry because of the softwood supply and if we’re not able to create areas to balance what is being lost then that will start to hit business confidence and investment.
“planting won’t happen with- do is buy out a government subsidy. We’re looking for government to offset the Cap subsidy with forestry grant support. For restructuring and diversifying, they currently provide £36m a year.
“to deliver all the planting we and the environmental organisations are looking for and which the government has committed to delivering – that’s 10,000 hectares of new planting a year plus the support to diversify existing forests – we reckon it would require closer to £45m a year, which is small beer compared with what’s spent on agriculture.”
His comments come in the wake of last week’s international Softwood Conference in edinburgh.
a Forestry Commission Scotland spokesman said: “our budget of £36m should meet demand for grants. However, we recognise the need to keep this under review.” ance, saw plans to buy more than 600 branches from Lloyds for £750m fall apart in april. the group’s former chief executive, peter Marks, will today face a grilling from Mps on the treasury select committee over the collapse of that deal, dubbed “project verde”.
Former treasury official Sir Christopher Kelly has also been drafted in by the group to carry out a “forensic” inquiry into the proposed transaction with Lloyds and Co-op’s disastrous takeover of Britannia Building Society in 2009, which has saddled the bank with soured corporate loans. Kelly’s findings are due to be presented at the group’s annual meeting in May.