Article Excerpt:
TWST: What is Texas Pacific Land Trust?Mr. Thomas: Texas Pacific Land Trust is a trust that was created in 1888 due to the bankruptcy of the railroad. The railroad land was given to the bondholders in the bankruptcy. The bondholders converted bonds to shares and proprietary interest, and traded them on the New York Stock Exchange. The land owned by the trust in 1888 was near 3 million acres and the trust was created to sell off the land. The Trust has been in business for 118 years, and there is just under 1 million acres of land left. The business of the trust is to manage the land it owns and sell land. Some land is sold each year. However, the Trust is a passive seller of land; we don't try to market and push land to be sold, but sell land as appropriate sales come to us.
TWST: What is it that is driving the land pricing dynamics and what are
your criteria for decisions concerning your own properties?
Mr. Thomas: Over 99% of the land is West Texas rangeland. There is a
small amount of land near urban areas that is subject to influence from
suburban sprawl. The urban land is higher-valued tracts and as
development gets to it, we will sell it when we deem it's the best time
to sell. We are not a developer, per se, but we sell when development
gets near and demand is high. Otherwise, we sell rangeland as sales come
to us. Over the last couple of years, there has been an increase in the
market for rangeland in West Texas. There has been more interest in the
land from people coming from other parts of the country to buy some of
the last cheap land in America. So if an appropriate sale comes at what
is considered a good market price, it is sold. If good sales don't come,
land is held whether it's another five years or 25 years.
Tickers included in this excerpt: TPL
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