(Photo above by Moresby Creative)
In July 2104 Interfor Corporation announced an investment of millions to upgrade mill in Gilchrist and support 450 local jobs. Interfor has turned its Gilchrist Mill into a world-class specialty operation to produce its new top-of-the line Reserve Pine products for the niche premium board market. This week it has completed the acquisition of four sawmills from Simpson Lumber Company, LLC, increasing its annual lumber production capacity by 30 percent to 3.1 billion board feet and reinforcing its position as the fastest growing lumber company in the world.
The purchase of the sawmills in Tacoma (Commencement Bay), Washington; Longview, Washington; Meldrim, Georgia and Georgetown, South Carolina are key to Interfor’s growth strategy and firmly establishes its presence in the US. Two-thirds of Interfor’s total annual capacity is now in the United States: 900 million board feet in the Northwest and 1.2 billion board feet in the Southeast.
“Simpson is an iconic company in our industry, founded in 1890,” said President and CEO Duncan Davies. “We take great pride in the fact that Simpson’s Vice Chair Allan Trinkwald, its Board of Directors and shareholders had the faith in Interfor to take on the responsibility for these mills which have been a core piece of their lumber business.”
“We are also pleased to welcome 400 new employees to Interfor,” added Davies. “We look forward to working with them to deliver the highest standards of product quality and customer service that have come to define our Company and are critical to our long-term success.”
Interfor purchased the four mills for $94.7 million plus working capital and contingent future payments. To partially finance the acquisition, the Company completed a bought deal public offering of 3,300,000 subscription receipts for gross proceeds of $66,330,000. In connection with the completion of the acquisition, each subscription receipt has been automatically exchanged, for no additional consideration, for one common share of the Company. The subscription receipts were delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange at the open of market on Monday.
Holders of subscription receipts are not required to take any action in order to receive their common shares.
Interfor is a growth-oriented lumber company with operations in Canada and the United States. The Company has annual production capacity of 3.1 billion board feet and offers one of the most diverse lines of lumber products to customers around the world.
