Three forests and wind farm lease up for sale in Perthshire hills for £130m

A massive tract of land hosting forestry plantations and a wind farm is up for sale in Scotland, with a price tag north of £130m

Three forests stretching across a large area of the Perthshire hills have come on the market with an asking price of more than £130 million.

Included in the deal is the lease for an operational wind farm sited on the land.

The sale comes as land in Scotland that was once considered almost worthless continues to attract queues of prospective buyers and fetch record prices because of its ‘natural capital’ value and potential for soaking up climate-warming carbon.

The new owner of 5,630 hectares of land up for sale in the Perthshire hills can expect income from commercial forestry and the lease of a 39-turbine section of the large Griffin wind farm

The Griffin, Ballinloan A and Moness plantations, which form the majority of the Griffin Forest Complex, cover 5,630 hectares of the Tay valley.

The properties include a mixture of trees – mainly commercial conifers such as sitka spruce but also some veteran native Scots pine – areas of peatland, lochs and open spaces, as well as part of the giant Griffin wind farm.

According to selling agents Savills, the forestry and land – near Aberfeldy – offer strong sustainability and income credentials for successful buyers, with a wide range of potential uses.

The assets are for sale as a whole or in two lots.

Estimates suggest there are around two million tonnes of climate-warming carbon locked up in the trees – around five million in total – at Griffin and Moness.

The sites also include 1,800 hectares of open space and already host a diverse range of species and habitats.

The 68-turbine Griffin Wind Farm has been operational since 2012 – 39 of the turbines are located within the Griffin and Ballinloan A forests, providing an additional revenue stream for the new landowner. The current term of the wind farm lease runs to 2037.

The sellers say the scale of the properties means there are potential opportunities for non-forestry land use, such as rejuvenating native woodland, creating woodland scrub habitats, improving degraded peatland, species recovery and general biodiversity enhancement, plus recreation and tourism.

James Adamson, head of forestry investment at Savills, said: “Forestry is an exciting and established investment asset class and one of the few that offers proven financial returns with true sustainability credentials.

“Opportunities of this scale are rare in the UK market and, coupled with the complementary income from the wind farm, the assets provide an excellent long-term home for capital, with strong income-generating potential.”

Nick Green, Savills head of energy, added: “The rent from the wind farm comprises both an uncapped index-linked fixed rent and a rent linked to the performance of the wind farm.

“This attractive predictable income stream balances well with the value created by the biological growth of the forest.”

Offers in excess of £105m are being invited for Lot 1 – Griffin Forest, Ballinloan A Forest and the lease for Griffin wind farm.

Griffin forest extends to 4,245 hectares and Ballinloan A totals 154 hectares, predominantly planted with spruce but with other conifers such as larch, pine and fir providing species diversity. It also contains a small area of Scots pines which date back more than 160 years – before 1860 – and lochs with 45 hectares of open water.

Lot 2, Moness forest, is on sale at offers over £25m. Located west of Griffin, it covers around 1,389 hectares and is made up primarily of sitka spruce for timber, most of which was planted in the 1980s, with a small scattering of other conifers.