City Forests Limited

City Forests Limited

31 August 2004: City Forests Limited today advises that it is extending its cash offer of 85 cents per unit in the Opio Forestry Fund to 8 October 2004.

City Forests said that its inability to freely access Opio's register has resulted in delays in it being able to communicate with unitholders - hence the need to extend the offer.

While Opio's units are listed on the New Zealand Exchange ("NZX"), because it is a Group Investment Fund it is not subject to the same rigorous disclosure obligations as most other listed companies. Perpetual Trust, Opio's Trustee, has therefore taken the stance that it cannot provide City Forests with the register. City Forests strongly disagrees with this stance and is of the view that access to the register is permitted and this is in the best interests of all unitholders.

"This is a full and fair offer that provides unitholders with certainty of value now," City Forests said. "Our 85 cents a unit offer price also represents a significant premium to historical trading levels - Opio's unit price has traded within the range of 44-60 cents over the previous three years."

City Forests believe that extending the Offer period should enable unitholders to receive its response to the Trustee's recommendation and give due consideration to the cash offer.

Despite the difficulties that City Forests has experienced it has already received acceptances totalling 8.6%. It also has received a number of expressions of interest from larger shareholders.

ENDS

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