Georgia-Pacific to sell Thorsby operation

Published 3:38 pm Monday, December 21, 2015

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Changing hands: Georgia-Pacific has announced plans to sell its engineered lumber operation in Thorsby. (Photo by Stephen Dawkins)

Changing hands: Georgia-Pacific has announced plans to sell its engineered lumber operation in Thorsby. (Photo by Stephen Dawkins)

Georgia-Pacific plans to sell its engineered lumber operation in Thorsby.

The company announced Monday an agreement to sell its engineered lumber business to Boise Cascade Company for $215 million, including working capital, according to a press release.

The transaction is subject to standard regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Once completed, the sale will include the engineered lumber operations located at Thorsby (about 230 employees) and Roxboro, N.C., (about 40 employees), along with a commercial sales and technical team.

John Sahlberg, spokesman for Idaho-based Boise Cascade, said the company plans to continue to operate the plant and to hire all current employees following a standard hiring process.

“Our long-term plans are to invest money to expand,” Sahlberg said. “We’re excited about the opportunity. We’ve toured the facility and been impressed with the people there.”

Sahlberg said the proposed acquisition will be submitted for a anti-trust review in January, and the review process should be completed within 30 days.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016, according to a release from Boise Cascade.

Karen Cole, spokeswoman for Georgia-Pacific, said the company purchased the operation from International Paper in 2007.

“Georgia-Pacific is firmly committed to the building products industry,” Mark Luetters, Georgia-Pacific executive vice president – building products, said in a release. “Although the engineered lumber business has been profitable and employees have done a great job running safe, productive assets and meeting our customers’ needs, it is not a large part of our overall building products division.

“We believe this potential sale to an established player in the industry is in the best interest of our engineered lumber employees, customers and stakeholders.”

Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, office papers, cellulose, specialty fibers, non-woven fabrics, building products and related chemicals.

The company employs nearly 35,000 people worldwide.

Boise Cascade manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber and particleboard and distributes a broad line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the company’s wood products division.

Boise Cascade is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BCC.”