Potlatch buying 201,000 acres of timberland in the South

Potlatch Corp. has signed a purchase agreement for 201,000 acres of timberland in Alabama and Mississippi, company officials said Monday. The $384 million purchase from Resource Management Service LLC is expected to close late this year. The sale will nearly double Potlatch’s southern holdings of timberland, said Mike Covey, Potlatch’s chairman and chief executive officer. The timberlands acquisition was announced with the company’s quarterly results. Spokane-based Potlatch reported net income of $33.2 million, or 81 cents per share, on revenues of $177.2 million during the third quarter. That compares to net income of $22.2 million, or 54 cents per share, on revenues of $157.9 million during the third quarter of 2013. Higher prices for sawlogs and lumber products helped boost earnings during the quarter. Potlatch is a real estate investment trust with 1.4 million acres of timberland in the West, Midwest and South.