Kirkland Advises Blue Source Sustainable Forests on $1.8 Billion Forest Carbon Acquisition from The Forestland Group and Capital Raise
Kirkland & Ellis acted as lead M&A counsel for Blue Source Sustainable Forests Co. (BSFC) on a $1.8 billion acquisition of entities managed by The Forestland Group, which owns 1.7 million acres of timberland, 1.5+ million acres of which have been acquired by BSFC and 200 thousand acres of which will be acquired pending closing under definitive agreements executed by BSFC and The Forestland Group entities. The acquisition is one of the largest private forest carbon investments in U.S. history. This first-of-its-kind acquisition will make BSFC one the industry’s 10 largest forestland owners, and of these 10 -- BSFC is the only one to commit to prioritizing climate mitigation practices. With this acquisition, BSFC has the opportunity to sequester hundreds of millions of tonnes of atmospheric CO2 over the next century through sustainable management for biodiversity and tree growth.
Kirkland also advised BSFC on its $1+ billion capital raise to finance the acquisition and on the related debt financing transactions.
BSFC is a joint venture between TPG Rise-backed Anew Climate (Anew), the largest carbon credit developer in North America, and various equity investors including Oak Hill Advisors.
The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Kevin Crews, John D. Furlow and Jennifer Gasser and associates Tori Newton, Jack Chadderdon and Cat Leveque; debt finance partners Lucas Spivey and Jordan Roberts and associates Steven Keithley, Chris Gambini and Marco Chan; tax partners David Wheat and Joe Tobias and associate Griffin Peeples; ESG & Impact partner Alex Farmer; environmental transactions partners Jim Dolphin and Jon Kidwell and associate Courtney Tibbetts; executive compensation partner Rob Fowler and associate Karsten Busby; and antitrust partner Carla Hine.
