Chile’s CMPC Sells Forest Land for US$365.5M

CHILE · BUSINESS

CMPC, Chile’s pulp and paper group, will sell about 60,000 hectares of Maule pine land. The buyer is a J.P. Morgan forestry platform, and the price is US$365.5 million.

Chile’s CMPC has agreed to sell about 60,000 hectares of Maule forest land for US$365.5 million. The buyer is J.P. Morgan Natural Capital, a forestry investment platform of the US bank’s asset management arm.

CMPC, a Chilean pulp and paper group, disclosed the sale on Wednesday, 21 October, in a filing to the financial regulator CMF. It is the group’s second large sale in about a month, after a US$420 million packaging deal in September.

The deal matters to US readers because American capital is buying into Chilean forestry. It is also a rare public price for pine land in Chile.

What the CMPC Forest Land Sale Covers

The assets are about 60,000 hectares of land and forestry assets in the Maule region, mostly productive radiata pine plantations. CMPC says they equal about 5% of its total forest land.

The seller is Forestal Mininco, a CMPC subsidiary, which signed the sale contract. The buyer is Bosques San Pedro SpA, a company of the J.P. Morgan group.

The price is US$365.5 million, subject to the usual adjustments in contracts of this kind. That works out at about US$6,090 per hectare, a figure calculated here from the two published numbers.

Part of the price is paid at closing, and the rest as the properties are registered in the buyer’s name. That registration should be complete within three months, the company says.

The Wood Supply Contract

CMPC keeps access to the trees it is selling. It will buy wood from the same assets under a long-term contract, to feed its paperboard plant in the Maule region.

Forestal Mininco says it will honour contracts with suppliers and customers tied to the assets during the transition. In CMPC’s account, the sale changes who owns the land, not where the plant gets its timber.

Why CMPC Is Selling

CMPC calls the sale part of a long-term asset management strategy announced at the end of 2025. Finance and administration vice president Sebastián Moraga said the process was competitive and aims to sharpen focus on core businesses.

Moraga added that the deal reflects the value of the assets and the group’s ability to generate its own resources, Emol reported. General manager Francisco Ruiz-Tagle signed the filing to the regulator.

CMPC expects a positive effect on its results between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027. It says it cannot yet determine the amount.

In September CMPC agreed to sell its Chilean corrugated packaging business to Ireland’s Smurfit Westrock for US$420 million, Forbes Chile reported. That packaging sale needs approval from the competition authority, the Fiscalía Nacional Económica.

Who the Buyer Is

J.P. Morgan Natural Capital is the forestry investment platform of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. It has assets in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Chile.

With its filing, CMPC lifted the confidentiality it had kept on the operation since Friday, 11 September, Emol reported. The sources do not say which investors stand behind the purchase.

What It Means for US Readers

The buyer is a unit of a major US bank, so the deal is a direct US capital inflow into Chilean forestry. It prices Maule pine land at about US$6,090 per hectare, a data point for investors who follow timberland.

Investors in CMPC should watch the gain, which the company has not yet quantified. The sale cuts CMPC’s land holdings but, by contract, not its access to wood.

Background is in earlier reports on the pulp rebound at CMPC and Arauco and a broker’s price-target cut for CMPC. The guide to Chile’s natural resources and the CMPC company profile add context.

What Is Not Known

The accounting gain is not known, because CMPC says it cannot yet determine the amount. The closing date and any regulatory approvals are not stated in the reports reviewed.

CMPC’s total forest land is not given, only that the sale is about 5% of it. The volumes, length and price of the wood supply contract have not been published.

The regulator filing could not be opened here, so the details come from three Chilean outlets. La Tercera, Emol and BioBioChile agree on the price, area, buyer and timetable.

The investors behind the buyer are not named, and the reaction of CMPC shares is not known. The sale price per hectare is a calculation here, not a figure either party has published.

What Comes Next

Registration of the properties in the buyer’s name should finish within three months, with the balance paid as it proceeds. CMPC’s results for the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027 should show the effect.

The competition authority’s decision on the September packaging sale is a separate open item. Neither sale, on the evidence so far, changes CMPC’s wood supply for the Maule plant.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did CMPC sell?

CMPC agreed to sell about 60,000 hectares of forest land in the Maule region, mostly radiata pine plantations. The land equals about 5% of its total forest land.

How much is the CMPC forest land sale worth?

The price is US$365.5 million, subject to the usual adjustments. That is about US$6,090 per hectare, calculated from the published figures.

Who is buying the land?

The buyer is J.P. Morgan Natural Capital, a forestry investment platform of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The purchasing company is Bosques San Pedro SpA.

Will CMPC still get wood from the land?

Yes, CMPC signed a long-term contract to buy wood from the same assets. It will feed the company’s paperboard plant in the Maule region.

When will the deal close?

CMPC says the properties should be registered in the buyer’s name within three months, with the balance paid as that happens. A closing date has not been stated.

Sources: La Tercera, 21 October; Emol, 21 October; BioBioChile, 21 October; Forbes Chile, 23 September (all accessed 22 October 2026).