The sale represents all of PaperlinX's plantation assets in the Gippsland region of Victoria - about 54,600 hectares of pine and eucalypt plantations with an additional 26,900 hectares of non-plantation land including native forest. This does not include the 40,000 hectares of plantations and native forest 'controlled' by Hancock in the Gippsland region since November 1998.

Hancock and A.P.P. will form a joint implementation team comprising of senior APP and HVP staff. This team will prepare for the merger of APP and HVP into a new company called Grand Ridge Plantations Pty Ltd.

Conservationists have been tracking the activities of A.P.P and PaperlinX for some time. The following websites provide useful information about the issues that will need to be addressed by the new company;

http://www.australianpaper.forests.org.au
www.paperlinxethical.shares.green.net.au

From September 1, 2001 photos of ex-Australian Paper Plantations operations now under the control of Hancock will appear on the Hancock Watch website".