Weyerhaeuser Closes Door On REIT Conversion In '09

MIKE OBEL

NEW YORK (AP) — Weyerhaeuser Co., which has been under pressure for years to lower its taxes by becoming a real estate investment trust, said Friday it is unlikely that taking such action this year "would be value creating."

The recession and resulting housing construction collapse have hammered timber and wood products companies like Weyerhaeuser. Its first-quarter loss — the fifth loss in the last six quarters — increased to $264 million from $148 million a year earlier.

Share price losses have followed: Between April 1, 2008, shortly after the current recession began, to March 6 of this year the stock plummeted 71 percent. By contrast, shares of Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc., a REIT, fell in the same period by 42 percent.

Absent prospects for a quick economic recovery, shareholders want Weyerhaeuser to become more tax efficient. The company now pays a 35 percent tax on income and then shareholders pay another 15 percent tax on dividends. REITs like Plum Creek, however, face no income tax and its shareholders merely pay a long-term capital gains tax of 15 percent on dividends.

Chief Financial Officer Patty Bedient said in New York at the company's annual investor conference that "there are certain limitations that make it unlikely that REIT conversion in 2009 would be beneficial."