Group to acquire 90,000 acres in Michigan

The Molpus Woodlands Group, a timberland investment management organization headquartered in Jackson, Miss., has, on behalf of a client, entered into an agreement to purchase approximately 90,000 acres of timberland located in northern Michigan.  The close of the purchase is set to occur at the end of August 2011.

The timberland, located in Baraga, Houghton, Iron and Ontonagon counties, consists mainly of northern hardwoods such as maple, yellow birch, white spruce and white pine. Molpus currently maintains an office in Houghton, Mich., to oversee the management of approximately 67,000 acres in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

"Timberlands have historically provided respectable returns and acted as a strong inflation hedge," said Molpus Woodlands group president Dick Molpus. "On average, 60% of the returns are derived from biological growth, which helps to protect the corpus of the investment and make it less vulnerable to market fluctuations."

This acquisition will increase Molpus's current acreage under management to more than 1 million acres located in 15 states.

Molpus employs 73 people in its 15 offices located in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Oklahoma. Molpus acquires, manages and sells timberland as an investment vehicle for pension funds, college endowments, foundations, insurance companies and high net-worth individual investors.