Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 21:27:40 GMT Server: Apache/1.1.1 Content-type: text/html Set-Cookie: Apache=heart25632880061260242; path=/ Content-length: 3142 Last-modified: Fri, 09 May 1997 14:29:55 GMT Rayonier Timberlands, L.P. - May-8-97 Second Quarter Distribution
RAYONIER TIMBERLANDS, L.P.

Earnings, Distributions And Other News

Rayonier Timberlands, L.P. Announces Second Quarter Distribution

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, May 8, 1997 — Rayonier Forest Resources Company, the managing general partner of Rayonier Timberlands, L.P. (NYSE:LOG) today announced a second quarter distribution of $1.24 per Class A Unit payable June 30, 1997 to unitholders of record May 30, 1997. A portion of this distribution represents return of capital, depending on each unitholder’s tax basis.

Distributions are intended to approximate actual Partnership results each year by keeping the distribution relatively constant in the second, third and fourth quarters and by making an adjustment in the first quarter of the year following to bring the cumulative distribution in line with Partnership results. Rayonier Forest Resources noted when it announced the March 1997 distribution of $1.70 that it expected Partnership results for 1997 to be lower than in 1996 and that distributions related to 1997 results will total less than distributions related to 1996 results.

Rayonier Forest Resources continues to caution unitholders that when the Initial Term of the Partnership ends on December 31, 2000, the Primary Account of the Partnership will be closed but the unitholders will not be entitled to have their Partnership capital accounts redeemed until the Partnership formally ends in the year 2035. After December 31, 2000, the interest of Class A unitholders in the Partnership’s future revenues, expenses and cash flows will decrease from 95 percent to 4 percent. On a pro forma basis, using 1996 results as an example, cash allocable per Class A Unit would decline from $5.69 to approximately 24 cents. In addition, there will be substantial Secondary Account debt that will mature on January 1, 2001. This debt (incurred to fund long-term investment in such areas as reforestation and silvicultural activities including accrued interest) is expected to exceed $350 million, more than three times 1996’s net operating cash flow. In accordance with the Partnership Agreement, all Secondary Account debt must be repaid before any distribution of Partnership cash flow resumes. As a result, it is expected that the market price of Class A Units should decrease substantially as December 31, 2000 approaches.

Rayonier Timberlands, L.P. grows and sells timber in the U.S. on 778,000 acres in the Southeast and on 369,000 acres in the Northwest. Rayonier Inc., the Special General Partner, owns 74.7 percent of the 20 million outstanding Class A Units of Rayonier Timberlands L.P. The balance is publicly traded on the NYSE.

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