OREANDA-NEWS. June 03, 2010. The Board of Directors of RusForest AB have resolved to appoint Mr. Martin Hermansson as President and CEO of RusForest, company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network.

Martin Hermansson is the founder of Nord Timber Group (NTG). Recently RusForest announced that a Letter of Intent had been signed between RusForest and the principal owners of NTG, with the aim of merging the two companies.

“The proposed merger between RusForest and NTG will create a large, pan-Russian forestry company with a strong cost advantage and the ability to compete on the global arena. I am truly impressed by the way in which Martin Hermansson has managed to turn the company he founded only a couple of years back into one of the best run forestry operations in Russia. The Board of Director’s of RusForest is extremely pleased to have Mr. Hermansson assume the role of President and CEO of RusForest as the Company is about to merge with NTG to form one of the five largest forestry companies in Russia”, comments Sven Hirdman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RusForest.

Aleksandr Williams, who has been instrumental in developing RusForest into a company with a clear focus on running an integrated forestry and sawmilling operation in Eastern Siberia will remain on the Board of Directors of RusForest.

“I would like to thank Mr. Williams for all his hard work over the years. I look forward to working together with Alexandr in his role as member of the Board of Directors of RusForest as we are now taking a giant leap towards becoming Russia’s leading independent forestry and sawmilling company”, comments Sven Hirdman.

Due to Martin Hermansson's close history with NTG, he will not be involved in the negotiations regarding the proposed merger, which will instead be led by RusForest’s Deputy CEO Mr. Anders F. Borjesson. The appointment of Mr. Martin Hermansson as President and CEO of RusForest is not in any way conditioned on the merger between RusForest and NTG being finalized, company said.

RusForest is the only listed Russian forestry and sawmilling company, with operations based in Eastern Siberia and long term leases covering over 850 thousand hectares of forest land.