Published Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ware buys 20,000 acres for $39.5 million

By Winston Skinner

The Newnan Times-Herald

Pursuant to previously announced strategic initiatives, Forestar Group Inc. has announced that it entered into a definitive agreement with Hogansville businessman Holland M. Ware to sell approximately 20,000 acres of HBU timberland in Georgia for approximately $39.5 million in a cash transaction.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009. The company intends to use proceeds from the sale to reduce debt.

A fax from Lee Jennings of the Rocky Mountain News indicated the land is in Coweta, Troup and Heard counties. "This transaction is particularly important in that it surrounds my home area," Ware stated in the release from Jennings.

"This sale represents another significant step in executing our strategic initiatives. We have executed definitive agreements with investors for the sale of approximately 95,000 acres of timberland in Georgia and Alabama for almost $160 million, including $120 million which was completed on June 16, 2009. We firmly believe these strategic initiatives will enhance shareholder value," said Jim DeCosmo, president and chief executive officer of Forestar.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP served as legal advisor to Forestar in connection with the transaction.

Forestar was spun off in 2007 from Temple-Inland, a timber company that owned large tracts in Coweta County for years. In that restructuring, Temple-Inland moved its real estate operation in the separate company, Forestar, and moved is financial service into Guaranty Bank.

Ware grew up in Hogansville, where his boyhood image is captured in a mural in the town. Ware has long been involved in buying and selling timber and has owned tracts in Coweta County over the years.

Ware has purchased significant parcels of land from Weyerhaeuser, International Paper Company and many others in the most recent years. He is the owner of St. Regis Paper Co., LLC.

Ware is a longtime philanthropist and founder of the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation. He has been a key player in large land transactions in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

In 2004, Ware and three other investors bought 270,000 acres of timber land in Georgia from Weyerhaeuser for $400 million. At the time, it was believed to be the single largest real estate transaction in Georgia history.

In November 2006, Ware and several partners closed on a purchase of 4.2 million acres from International Paper for $5 billion. International Paper said that it was the biggest single private purchase of forest land in U.S. history.

Ware has used his riches to make several large charitable donations over the years. He funded the Holland M. Ware Cancer Research Center at Emory University and the Holland M. Ware Imaging Center at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine.

In January 2008, Ware donated $200,000 to the Humane Society of the United States to combat dog fighting. He donated an additional $250,000 in August of last year.

Forestar Group Inc. operates in three business segments -- real estate, mineral resources and fiber resources. The real estate segment owns directly or through ventures more than 288,000 acres of real estate located in 10 states and 13 markets in the United States.

Several months ago, Ware offered $535 million to purchase Forestar. In January, when that offer was reported, it was noted that Forestar owned thousands of acres of land in Coweta County and that Ware already owned some Forestar stock.

A search on the Coweta County Tax Assessors office Web site for property owned by Forestar returned 50 hits. The holdings include numerous building lots and tracts of 202.5, 244.261 and 598.54 acres.

The property is spread across the county from Al Roberts Road near Haralson to Roscoe Road, Jim Starr Road and Mt. Carmel Road.

Brooks Elementary School is being built on land in north Coweta purchased from Forestar. The Coweta County School System also bought land from Forestar for new schools adjacent to Corinth Landing.

The Brown's Mill Battlefield site and the future Chattahoochee Bend State Park Property were both formerly owned by Temple-Inland.