West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is acquiring all of the outstanding common shares of Norbord, the world’s largest oriented strandboard producer, for $3.1 billion. Following closing, the combined company will operate as West Fraser.
“Norbord’s OSB production is a perfect complement to the West Fraser portfolio, enabling us to deliver a wider range of wood products, and making us a more complete, efficient and valuable partner for our customers,” says Raymond Ferris, President and CEO of West Fraser.
Norbord operates 17 plant locations in the U.S., Europe and Canada, encompassing 15 OSB mills, one MDF plant, two particleboard facilities and a furniture plant.
West Fraser operates 34 sawmills in British Columbia, Alberta and the Southern U.S., as well as three plywood operations and two MDF facilities in Western Canada.
West Fraser will continue to be led by Ferris as CEO and Chris Virostek as CFO. Peter Wijnbergen, President and CEO of Norbord, will be appointed President, Engineered Wood, responsible for the company’s OSB, plywood, particleboard, MDF and veneer operations. Sean McLaren, currently West Fraser’s Vice-President, U.S. Lumber, will be appointed President, Solid Wood, responsible for all of the company’s lumber operations.
Latest News
Robbins Lumber Acquires Two Sawmills In Maine
Robbins Lumber, Inc., based in Searsmont, Me., has acquired two sawmills from Pleasant River Lumber Co., expanding the company’s footprint from two locations to four locations. The sawmills in Hancock and Sanford, Maine, will retain all 74 employees between the two locations. The company says the acquisition will allow it to build upon its eastern white pine production, which the…
Luoma Announces Retirement
Longtime executive and manager in the wood products industry, for years with LP, Brian Luoma announced he is retiring at the end of 2023 from his position as president and CEO of The Westervelt Co. Luoma joined Alabama-based Westervelt as president and CEO in 2017, and has been instrumental in the company’s expansion of its lumber and timberlands divisions…
Maybe The Markets Will Surprise Us Once Again
Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Timber Processing June 2023 – If you didn’t notice it on the cover, your eyes are getting as bad as mine, but yes this is our annual U.S. Sawmill Operations and Capital Expenditure survey report. It doesn’t pretend to be as…
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.