Int'l Paper would consider bulk land sale: CFO

By Euan Rocha

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paper and packaging maker International Paper Co (IP.N) would consider a bulk sale of its remaining forest lands, Chief Financial Officer Tim Nicholls told Reuters on Thursday.

"If we saw an opportunity to monetize the land holdings all at one time, for a good value, then that is something we would seriously consider," Nicholls said in an interview.

In 2006, the company sold the bulk of its forest lands for about $6.6 billion. It has been selling the remainder of its land in smaller deals over the last few quarters, in a bid to maximize value.

The company still owned about 270,000 acres (109,200 hectares) of land and mineral rights at the end of June.

International Paper will close in August on its $6 billion acquisition of Weyerhaeuser Co's (WY.N) packaging business, which will make the company the largest corrugated box maker in North America, ahead of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp SSCC.O.

Nicholls said the company does not need to sell the remaining land to fund the acquisition, but it is keeping open the option of selling it all at one go.

"Anytime you can monetize something quickly at value, or very close to the value that you had set-up for yourself, you'd like to do it, because you'd like to put the cash to work to do other things," he said.

The packaging business acquisition, funded through a bond offering, cash and short-term debt and a five-year term loan, is likely to almost double International Paper's annual interest expenses.