22^nd June 2011
Obituary
We are very sad to have to announce that our Director of the Board, Frank Werner Bosshardt, passed away on 16th June 2011.
Werner Bosshardt was a very active and committed Director from the outset of the rescue activity of Forests for Friends and was a trusted and reliable mentor to the executive directors. His decades of experience in sustainable business and in Latin America, his calm and prudent character made him an important partner and a focus member of the Board up until the end.

15^th March, 2011
FSC-Recertification
Our plantations have successfully passed the yearly control and been recertified by Forest Stewardship council (FSC).

11^th November 2010
ecoLife, the Swiss Magazine for Sustainability, has published an article on The Tree Partner Company (ecoLife 5/10)
The article presents Forests For Friends and The Tree Partner Company and their business. You can read more about it here: ecological wood-plantations in Panama (German only, PDF, 1,58 MB)

Portrait of Carol Franklin in Context, the magazine for professional business careers in Switzerland
You can read more about her here: Panama is so beautiful (German only, PDF, 888 KB)

22^nd July 2010
„To protect tropical rain forests completely would be the best thing we could do for the climate and biodiversity - but it is unrealistic. A combination of protected areas and sustainable forestry, however, may be successful.“ (Lukas Denzler, „The Fate of the Tropical Rain Forests“, NZZ 21^st July 2010, German only)
Tropical rain forests are disappearing despite the fact that their significance is widely known and efforts to protect them have been intensified since the Convention to Protect the Climate and Biodiversity in 1992. The scientist and author, Lukas Denzler, shows in an interesting article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 21^st July 2010 that the sustainable, FSC-certified timber production is an effective, long-term protection of the rainforests. The benefits of sustainable management lie in minimally intrusive interventions that harm the biodiversity as little as possible and in the preservation of the managed forests as the habitat of endangered animal and plant species. The main reasons for the lack of resonance to the sustainable management lie in the fact that global market prices for certified wood are currently too low and governmental institutions in tropical areas are too weak to enforce sustainable management.
We should like to thank Mr Denzler for this interesting article and are glad that we can contribute to the protection of the rainforest with our FSC-certified hardwood plantations – even if we realise that it is but a drop in the ocean.

16^th December 2009
Our plantations have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) valid until November 2014. (FSC-certificate (PDF, KB 266))

16^th December 2009
Forests for Friends is not in danger!
The Board of Directors would like to emphasise clearly that nobody owns 47% of Forests for Friends' shares and that Forests for Friends is not being taken over by anybody. If somebody were to own such a participation (which is impossible due to the number of shareholders), the right to vote would be limited to 3%. This complies with our Bye-Laws which have been accepted by the Swiss Authorities and are registered in the Commercial Register. Therefore, an unfriendly takeover is not possible.
We can reassure our shareholders: Forests for Friends is stable and not in danger!

8^th December 2009
New Version: Castle Gate Holdings
"Dears Forests For Friends Team,
Today I received a telephone call from a Mr Dupont "from New York". In the e-mail he is called "David Dupont" in the documents "Brian Dupont". :-) He wanted to give me 9,000 Euro credit, as, he said, I had invested 9,000 Euro in Prime Forestry. I would have to pay in another 5,500 Euro to receive 14,500 Goldfinger shares.
In your News of 26/11/2009 you mention that the money is supposed to go to a bank in Mexico. In the meantime there seems to be the version of Castle Gate Holdings, which is supposed to receive the money via the Global Bank of Commerce in Antigua. The payment is routed over the Deutsche Bank. But the story of the 47% that the company already owns and which will be increased to 51% in the coming weeks is the same. The gentleman also told me that he himself had lost 150,000 Euro with Prime Forestry and that he wanted to get his investment back with this profit."

1^st December 2009
Beekman Securities Corporation is also willing to accept our shares as payment for Goldfinger shares …
Here is a report from one of our shareholders:
"Dear Chairman!
I am a small shareholder since Prime Forestry and still with you in F. f. F
I have resently been abused from a guy who called himself, David Goodwell in Beekman Securities Corporation, New York. He represents Goldfingers in the takeover of our company and offers a 1 to 2 deal with shares that will be possible to trade in the Frankfurt Stock market soon. Each share will be 1 €. He also offers an extension after the first deal. To back up this one he tells you about a meeting he just attended between, Wells Fargo-Merrill Lynch-Goldfingers Corp. and himself repr. Beekman S.C. That meeting indicated a possible worth of 3.5-4 times when the new shares become official. Very good deal, indeed!"
The payment is to be made via The Bank of New York to the Figuala branch of Banco Mercantil del Norte SA, Monterrey, Mexico, to the ultimate beneficiary Guardian International SA de CV in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Forests for Friends is not being taken over in a friendly nor unfriendly manner. Please do not believe any such stories and be very careful with such offers and your money!

26^th November 2009
Once again the addresses of the former Prime Forestry tree partners are being abused. This time by Infinity Exchange Board / "Goldfingers"
The person is calling "from New York" and goes under the name of either Steven Weber or Dr. Brian Dupont. The offer is being made by Infinity Exchange Board, a company in Malaysia, who is said to be in the process of an unfriendly takeover of Prime Forestry / Forests for Friends for an unnamed client. Our Company, the caller says, is in financial difficulties and on the verge of collapsing. The client is said to have 47% already. The offer refers to Prime Forestry shares(!), which are to be swapped with shares of "Goldfingers". Goldfingers describes itself on its website as a future (!) company which – in virtual (!) shops - lends money for gold items. Of course, the swap is not one-to-one: the "Prime-Forestry"-shareholder must pay an additional 50% in advance. The money is to be paid via New York to the Banco Mercantil del Norte SA in Monterrey, Mexico.
As always we advise our shareholders to investigate this business in depth before they send any money ….
If we hear of any new developments, we will keep you informed as usual on our website under "News".
By the way, we are happy to say that the company and the trees are in better shape than ever.

19^th November 2009
Updated Information regarding Chapman Mediation Group
We have just been informed by an investor (fortunately not a shareholder of Forests for Friends) that he sent the Chapman Mediation Group a major amount and has not heard anything from the Group since then. He has filed a complaint with the Chinese Regulator. This information confirms our misgivings and we advise our shareholders to be very careful in their dealings.

19^th November 2009
Telephone callers are active again
We are hearing from shareholders that they are – once again – being approached by telephone, this time from New York. The caller offers to buy shares. Since we started, we have encountered such activities and have warned our shareholders on our website.
In the past, the offer was an exchange of Forests-for-Friends shares for another share or certificate, but with a steep additional payment. We assume that the deal would be closed after the money has been paid and that the other party would be happy with the easily-earned money. We have never received a cession request from a shareholder following such a deal. We would not agree to such a cession; this lies in the competence of the Board. The addresses are probably from former Prime-Forestry employees.
Forest for Friends is in better shape than ever. We visited the plantations with Romano Costa, our forest engineer on the Board, last week and the growth rates are pleasing. In addition, many shareholders subscribed to the convertible bond or gave loans.
The share cannot be traded on a stock market. A listing would not make sense for a rescue company; it would be far too expensive and would attract raiders. You can sell your shares on a private basis anytime, if you find a buyer and agree on a price.
So do not worry, but do not take any risks!

28^th October, 2009
New Manager for Forests for Friends AG
By employing Jacqueline Jakob-Gallmann, the Board of Directors has implemented the most important finding of its risk analysis. 

24^th September, 2009 (see also 31^st August 09)
Update on the telephone calls and the questions about your shares
We now have an example of an E-mail and the questionnaire sent by the company searching for information about our shareholders' participation in Forests for Friends Ltd.
• E-Mail (PDF, 65 KB)
• Questionnaire (PDF, 25 KB)
The lady is obviously called Amanda Doyle and the company is Chapman Mediation Group in Hongkong. Representatives of this company already approached our shareholders about two years ago.
We advise our shareholders not to accept the offer and not to provide any information.

15^th September 2009
Marketing by Life Forestry
Over the past few weeks we have been hearing from our shareholders that they have been receiving unsollicited e-mails from a "Life Forestry Group". We have been asked about Life Forestry and particularly where the addresses come from.
We would like to clarify that we have never given anybody our investors' addresses,
that we do not cooperate with Life Forestry in any way
that no cooperation is envisaged.
We do not really know the company and cannot recommend a cooperation in any way.

28^th October 2008
Again we are hearing from shareholders that they are being approached – unsolicited and persistently – by representatives of the firm Kimberley Capital Corporation based in Glen Rock New Jersey, USA, with the offer either to exchange the "rights" of investors of Prime Forestry or their shares in Forests for Friends Ltd plus an additional payment, which must be paid in advance, for other shares or participate in a Class action lawsuit which Kimberly Capital is undertaking on behalf of an unspecified Hollywood producer client.
We should like to state that in this case, too, we do not know this firm and do not work with it. We recommend extreme caution and suggest you make detailed investigations before executing such a transaction. We cannot voice an opinion on the respectability of these offers.

10^th April, 2008
"Forest Investment: Managing the past and going forward"
Approximately 3,000 „tree partners“ of the former Swiss Prime Forestry AG faced a total loss of their investment in May, 2006. Then the rescue company „Forests for Friends Ltd“ took over the teak plantations in Panama . The managers have now established a further company and are setting up new sustainable plantations. ECOreporter.de interviews the chairman of the Board, Carol Franklin, on finances, good and bad soil, plans, and revenue.
– Interview im ECOreporter.de-Sondermagazin vom 10.4.2008 (PDF, 174 KB) only in German
– www.ecoreporter.de