Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
, is a timberland
real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
("REIT") with assets located in some of the most productive softwood
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...
growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Its core business segments are timber and real estate.
As of December 31, 2020, the company owned or leased approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands overall, located in the U.S. South (1.73 million acres) and U.S. Pacific Northwest (507,000 acres). The company also has a 77% ownership interest in Matariki Forestry Group, a joint venture, that owns or leases approximately 417,000 acres of timberlands in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
.
History
Rayonier was founded in 1926 as the Rainier Pulp and Paper Company in
Shelton, Washington
Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...
, with a headquarters office in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. Its name was inspired by
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a ...
in Washington state. Its first mill opened the next year in Shelton
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, on the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a ...
. The mill used ''
Tsuga heterophylla
''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonom ...
'' (western hemlock) trees to create a premium bleached paper pulp.
In September 1930, Rainier Pulp and Paper began working with the
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
chemical company to produce hemlock pulp for the manufacture of
rayon
Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber, made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecular structure as cellulose. It is also called viscose. Many types and grades of viscose ...
. Two additional pulp mills were constructed and began operation in the state of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
at
Hoquiam, Washington
Hoquiam ( ) is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. It borders the city of Aberdeen at Myrtle Street, with Hoquiam to the west. The two cities share a common economic history in lumbering and exporting, but Hoquiam has maintai ...
and
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021.
The city's har ...
.
Rainier Pulp and Paper changed its name to Rayonier, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsFernandina Beach, Florida, pulp mill, which began production in 1939.
In 1944, the company moved its offices to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. As World War II ended, Rayonier began making large land purchases in the Pacific Northwest. The Rayonier Foundation was created in 1952 to provide assistance to charitable, civic and education organizations in the communities where Rayonier did business.
Rayonier opened international sales offices in Europe and Asia during 1954. That same year, another pulp mill in the southeast was constructed at
Jesup, Georgia
Jesup is a city in Wayne County, Georgia, United States. The population was 9,809 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Wayne County.
History
By February 1869, Willis Clary had begun building a two-story hotel near the junction o ...
. High demand prompted the facility to double its capacity by 1957.
ITT
ITT may refer to:
Communication
* Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles.
Mathematics
*Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory
*Intensional type theory
B ...
purchased the company in 1968 and the name changed to ITT Rayonier.
The Jesup mill grew larger in 1974, becoming the largest pulp mill on earth.
Company headquarters were moved again in 1978; this time to
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...
.
Diplomatic relations with
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
were restored in 1979. The following year, Rayonier received orders for pulp and logs. It took almost five years to receive permission to open an office in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
in 1985.
A log-trading office was opened in New Zealand during 1988. The New Zealand government sold Rayonier of timberland in 1992.
The company was spun off from ITT in 1994 with the company name reverting to Rayonier and shares again traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rayonier purchased of timberland in Florida, Georgia and Alabama in 1999, then relocated the corporate offices to
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...
, to be closer to company employees and properties.
Rayonier converted to a
real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
(REIT) on January 1, 2004.
TerraPointe LLC was established in 2005 to manage properties with development potential.
The 2006 purchase of in six states brought the company's total of land owned, leased or managed to in the U.S. and New Zealand.
In March 2008, the company purchased for $215 million in southwest Washington state from Sierra Pacific
In March 2013, the company sold its wood products division, including its mills in Baxley, Swainsboro, and Eatonton,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, to
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
-based
International Forest Products
Interfor Corporation is one of the largest lumber producers in the world. The company's sawmilling operations have a combined manufacturing capacity of over 3 billion board feet of lumber with sales to North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Inte ...
(Interfor) for $80 million.
In April 2013, the company increased its shareholding in the joint venture ''Matariki Forestry Group in New Zealand from 26% to 65% for $140 million.
In May 2014, Rayonier named David L. Nunes as post-separation president and CEO for Rayonier.
A
class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
against members of the former management team by certain shareholders was launched for the period from October 26, 2010, to November 7, 2014, claiming over-harvesting while communicating publicly harvesting below a sustainable rate.
On October 5, 2017, the court entered orders approving the settlement and a plan of distribution terminating these class actions.
In June 2014, Rayonier spun off its performance fibers business into an independent, publicly traded company,
Rayonier Advanced Materials
Rayonier Advanced Materials is an American chemical company specializing in cellulose-based products. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, it produces more than 25 grades of high-purity performance fibers for products ranging from food, cosmeti ...
Inc. (NYSE: RYAM). Shareholders of Rayonier received one share of the new Rayonier Advanced Materials company for every three shares of Rayonier on June 27, 2014.
In August 2015, Rayonier announced its ownership in the New Zealand joint venture will increase from 65% to approximately 77%, as part of an anticipated recapitalization of the JV.
In May 2016, Rayonier announced upgrades to it Pacific Northwest timberland portfolio through the acquisition of 61,000 acres of timberlands in western Oregon for $263 million, and a disposition of 55,000 acres comprising predominantly pre-merchantable timber in Washington state for $130 million.
In August 2017, Rayonier consolidated its corporate headquarters, real estate, and forest resources offices into a newly constructed, state-of-the-art building in Wildlight, Florida.
In May 2020, Rayonier acquired ''Pope Resources'' in the Pacific Northwest.
Business segments
* Timber (63% of total sales for 2020)
* U.S. real estate (27% of total sales for 2020)
* Trading (10% of total sales for 2020).