Weyerhaeuser Closes Sale of 270,000 Acres in Georgia 

FEDERAL WAY, Wash., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) closed the sale of approximately 270,000 acres of timberlands in Georgia to four companies, officials announced today. The sale includes all Weyerhaeuser's owned commercial timberlands in Georgia. Weyerhaeuser will continue to manage a long-term timberland lease covering approximately 34,000 acres. 

   Terms of the individual agreements were not disclosed, but Weyerhaeuser said the sales totaled approximately $400 million. The company will use proceeds from the sales primarily for debt repayment.

   The company now owns or manages approximately 6.5 million acres of timberland in the United States. Weyerhaeuser, one of the world's largest owners of merchantable softwood timber, added 1.7 million acres to its portfolio with the Willamette acquisition in 2002.

   The purchasers of the timberland are Virginia Forest Investment LLC from Hogansville and Macon, Georgia; Georgia Fall Line Properties LLC from Greensboro, Georgia; Oaky Woods Properties LLC from Perry, Georgia; and Copper Station Holdings #3 from Beaufort, South Carolina. Weyerhaeuser will continue operating its nine facilities in Georgia.