Analyst: Canfor Corp., West Fraser Timber Merger Speculation
Recent activity at West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has revealed that British Columbian billionaire Jim Pattison owns a significant minority stake in the company, prompting speculations of a merger with rival Canfor Corp., according to an analyst.
Pattison owns 10 percent of West Fraser, North America’s No. 1 lumber producer, said Paul Quinn, a paper and forest products industry analyst at RBC Capital Markets, and already owns a majority stake in Canfor, North America’s No. 2 lumber producer. “That automatically brings up the idea of Canfor and West Fraser coming together,” said Quinn. “It’s an interesting idea, but would be very difficult to accomplish.”
Pattison has owned the same stake in West Fraser since 2011, Quinn said. However, it wasn’t until after a series of share-repurchases by the company – which reduced the size of West Fraser’s pool of outstanding shares – that Pattison’s stake amounted to just over 10 percent, which is the threshold at which shareholders must disclose their holdings, under Canadian Securities Administration regulations.
Quinn mused about what a merger of the two would look like in a research note to clients. Since they are the two dominant forest companies in B.C.’s interior, Quinn sees certain “synergies” in a combination through reducing supply costs at combined operations, particularly the combined eight pulp mills between the two, and in a single head office. “I have no idea what (Pattison) wants to do,” Quinn said. “He obviously likes the (forestry) sector, it’s a good long-term investment.”
However, Quinn said because of Pattison’s history with owning big stakes in forest companies that merge (in 2003 he held big stakes in Canfor and Slocan Forest Products before they combined in a $455-million deal) “we could argue that a combination is a possibility.”
From the Vancouver Sun: vancouversun.com.
RELATED ARTICLES
Canfor Plans New Sawmill In Louisiana
West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion
Canfor’s Vida Group Buys Sweden Mills
No-Go On Proposed Purchase Of Canfor
Latest News
Southern Lumber And Timber Market Recovery Underway
Economic recovery is producing promising outgrowths for the Southern lumber and timber industry. Increasing demand and constrained supply globally are inciting a long-term rebound across the U.S., which is good news for Florida where timber…
Florida Governor Confirms New Jobs At West Fraser Mill Set To Restart
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1548381510056-0’); }); Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed Wednesday morning that dozens of new jobs are coming to McDavid as the West Fraser sawmill reopens after sitting idle for four years. As NorthEscambia.com first…
LP Building Products Launches New LP SolidGuard LSL
LP Building Products has announced the launch of its new LP(R) SolidGuard(TM) LSL, adding protection against termite damage and fungal decay to its LSL product. As the industry embraces wood framing in taller multifamily structures,…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Timber Processing Industry Newsletter reaches over 4,000 mill owners and supervisors.
Subscribe/Renew
Timber Processing is delivered 10 times per year to subscribers who represent sawmill ownership, management and supervisory personnel and corporate executives. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.