CHILE (Notifix.) - A total of 36.000 hectares of forests in Chile, and four thousand hectares in Brazil, are being put up for sale by Masisa to help fund a "safe and healthy" USD 600 million investment plan to 2015, stated Roberto Salas, CEO of Masisa, to El Mercurio of Chile.

The executive said that through this program the company is expecting to achieve an Ebitda growth of 60% in 2017, reaching by the end of that year at around USD 350 million.

Salas said that 80% of the investments that are being made would go to Mexico, Brazil and Chile. The latter is considered as a cluster for Masisa, since the industrial and commercial capacity of the country not only caters to the domestic market, but also the Latin American countries in the Pacific Ocean and the United States.

Of the USD 600 million to be invested, about USD 230 million are linked to initiatives that were implemented or announced. They are primarily investments in Mexico in the areas of resin, boards and productive capacity expansions for MDF and melamine.

In Mexico, Masisa has been present for 10 years, and while in 2012 the country explained 1% of Ebitda, by 2017 it’s expected to rise to 20%. The Mexican market is expected to increase in the sale of boards for the furniture industry, and the present housing deficit is seen as a growth opportunity. It also aims to expand forest plantation projects with local producers.