placement, page-2

COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT / MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday, 25 March 2004
Great Southern Plantations’ Successful
Placement of Shares for Forestry Assets Acquisition
Great Southern Plantations Limited (ASX Code: GTP) is pleased to announce that it has received binding
commitments to subscribe for 28.3 million ordinary shares by way of an institutional placement at $2.45
per share to raise a total of $69.3 million. These proceeds will assist in funding Great Southern
Plantation’s acquisition of approximately 55,000 hectares of net forestry assets by purchasing Challenger
Financial Services Group Limited’s rights and obligations under a Put and Call Option Agreement with
ZCCM Match Funding Corp. The institutional placement was heavily oversubscribed and supported by
institutional shareholders and sophisticated investors.
The institutional placement was successfully lead-managed and underwritten by Macquarie Equity Capital
Markets Limited.
The indicative timetable for the conclusion of the institutional placement follows:
Event Date
Bookbuild closed Wednesday 24 March 2004
Allocations advised Wednesday 24 March 2004
Expected recommencement of trading on ASX of
all Great Southern Plantations securities
Thursday 25 March 2004 (10am Sydney Time)
Expected settlement of Placement shares (T + 2) Monday 29 March 2004
Placement shares expected to commence
trading on ASX.
Tuesday 30 March 2004
Share Purchase Plan
Great Southern's announcement of 22 March 2004 foreshadowed an offer to its shareholders of the
opportunity to subscribe for up to A$5,000 worth of shares each, free of brokerage and any other
transaction costs, through a Share Purchase Plan ("SPP”). Some details are as follows:
• Great Southern ordinary shares will trade cum an entitlement to participate when trading is
expected to recommence on Thursday 25 March 2004.
• The record date for the SPP will be announced shortly.
• The ordinary shares issued in the institutional placement will be entitled to participate in the SPP.
• The issue price of the shares issued under the SPP will be the lower of the placement price of
$2.45 and a discount to the value weighted average price of Great Southern ordinary shares over
a nominated trading period.
The new shares issued under the institutional placement and the SPP will rank equally with GSP’s
existing ordinary shares.
Great Southern confirms it has requested to the ASX that the voluntary suspension of all of the securities
of Great Southern Plantations Limited be lifted and that normal trading commence from Market Open
Thursday 25 March 2004 for all of the securities of Great Southern Plantations Limited listed on the ASX.
For further information see www.great-southern.com.au or call:
John Young, Managing Director, Ph (08) 9320 9700
Cameron Rhodes, Executive Director, Ph (08) 9320 9700
David Ikin, Marketing & PR Manager, Ph (08) 9320 9700; 0408 438 772