NABA member Green Resources merges with GSFF to create leader in African forestry
The agreement signed 1st of May facilitates the creation of the largest African forest plantation company outside of South Africa with more than 40,000 hectares of standing forest in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.Green Resources (GR) and Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF) signed an agreement today where GR acquires GSFF, including all its Mozambican assets and additional cash, in return for issuing 17.8 million new shares. The combined company creates significant operating synergies, with each company bringing complementary skill sets and experience to East African plantation establishment, management and community relations. The larger scale enables GR to maintain and build high quality management and to continue to develop plantation forestry in one of the world’s most promising regions for the establishment of new pine and eucalyptus plantations.The combined company will have 40,000 ha of standing forest and significant industrial operations in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. GR will become the clear leader in African commercial reforestation and will become the continent’s largest forest plantation owner outside of South Africa. Green Resources was established in 1995 and GSFF in 2005, and have over the last decade established more new forest in Africa than any other company or government.
This merger leaves Green Resources in an excellent position to capitalize on more than two decades of hard work and to develop a first class plantation forest resource in East Africa
Mads Asprem, GR CEO and Founder Green ResourcesThe merger is a first and strong sign of the expected consolidation within the plantation sector in east Africa, a region that show promising signs of becoming a new wood product export region similar to what has been seen previously in places like Uruguay and Vietnam. GR has a well proven track record within sustainability and community engagement in relation to plantation establishment in Africa and was among the first companies to recognize responsible forestry is crucial in managing operational risk.
Green Resources is Africa’s leading forestation company and a leader in East African wood manufacturing. The company was established in 1995 and is a private Norwegian company. Green Resources employs more than 3,600 people and have invested more than more than USD 125 million in its African operations.