UGA Center for Forest Business Announces 2011 Timberland Investment Conference
Conference to Focus on Emerging Markets and Their Impact on Timberland Investment
ATHENS, Ga., Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Forest Business, part of the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, today released details of its 2011 Timberland Investment Conference which will be held March 23-25, 2011, at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Greensboro, Ga.
This year's conference, which is expected to attract more than 300 industry and investment professionals, is taking a decidedly global perspective. The three-day conference will focus on global wood markets and trade and the opportunities that have been created for both international and domestic timberland investment. It will also focus on the impact of the domestic housing market.
"With housing starts at historically low levels and a weakened dollar, international trade is key to continued growth," says Bob Izlar, director of The Center for Forest Business. "Emerging markets have placed a large demand on all commodities including wood products, but there hasn't been a resource for gathering and understanding both these markets and their impact. The 2011 Timberland Investment conference is going to change that. For the first time, we'll be providing investors with information on who the current market participants are and how to meet the needs of these markets."
Other conference topics include the affect of the housing market recovery on wood demand, sustainability, and back-to-basics timberland management. It will provide an intense overview of all aspects of a timber investment, including high-level overviews of taxes, valuation and geographic investment markets.
Keynote speakers for the 2011 conference are Dr. Kermit Baker, senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies who specializes in the construction and remodeling industries in the U.S.; Danielle DiMartino, a financial analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and an expert on policy and the U.S. debt-driven housing market; and Dean Robert Sumichrast, dean of UGA's Terry College of Business, who will present the 2011 UGA Economic Forecast.
In addition to the conference, a pre-conference timberland investment tour will be held on Tuesday, March 22, hosted by Plum Creek, the largest and most geographically diverse private landowner in the nation. The tour will offer an up-close look at how a professional timberland investment operation works.
About the Timberland Investment Conference
The Timberland Investment Conference is a signature industry event that brings together forestry and business interests. Hosted bi-annually by The Center for Forest Business, part of the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, it attracts a wide variety of timberland investors including representatives from public and private pension funds, private investors, family offices, fund of funds, REITs, private consultants, large landowners, TIMOs, and forest product companies. For more information about the 2011 conference visit www.ugacfb.com/timberlandasset.
About The Center for Forest Business
There are forestry schools. There are business schools, but there is only one place where the study of forestry and business come together. The University of Georgia's Center for Forest Business (CFB) is unique in its mission to integrate pioneering academic research and sound financial methods to provide education and insights to forest industry, investors and landowners throughout the world. Established in 1997, the CFB combines sound forest business principles and practices with the contemporary biological and quantitative methods needed to achieve sustainable forest production.
SOURCE Center for Forest Business
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