A lumber giant already well established in the local region has been growing in recent weeks.
Founded in Quesnel, with corporate offices in Vancouver and Tennessee, West Fraser made more U.S. acquisitions this week.
The main new investment is the sawmill and lumber manufacturing operations under the title of Bibler Brothers Sawmill in Russellville, Arkansas.
According to West Fraser, Bibler Brothers Lumber sawmill produced approximately 136 million board feet of lumber in 2013 and in excess of 160 million board feet in 2005.
It is the second recent acquisition in Arkansas, following the West Fraser purchase of the Tavis Lumber operation in nearby Mansfield in early March. That mill produced more than 100 million board feet of lumber in 2013 and West Fraser stated its intention to invest additional capital in the mill to expand annual production capacity to approximately 150 million board feet.
Should all subjects be satisfied, the Bibler deal will close by the end of April and bring West Fraser's total number of Arkansas sawmills to four, plus others in Texas and Louisiana not far away.
The second West Fraser announcement Thursday was the purchase of the Buchanan Sawmill in High Prairie, Alberta. This mill has an annual capacity of approximately 110 million board feet of lumber.
"West Fraser plans to invest additional capital in the mill to expand the annual production capacity to approximately 175 million board feet," said company president and CEO Ted Seraphim.
The acquisition includes timber rights having an annual allowable harvest of approximately 430,000 cubic metres of coniferous timber and 21,000 cubic metres of deciduous timber. The company expects that the Buchanan Lumber sawmill and related assets will be complementary to several of West Fraser's existing Alberta operations.
"We are pleased to be growing and welcoming new employees to West Fraser in the U.S. south and in western Canada," said Seraphim. "We expect that these acquisitions will enhance our current operations in Alberta and Arkansas and will further position West Fraser to take advantage of the expected strengthening of our lumber markets."
In the local area, West Fraser and Canfor recently swapped timber rights and agreed to close one mill each in Houston and Quesnel, leaving one mill each to thrive in those same communities. West Fraser retains its founding sawmill in Quesnel while Canfor's so-called supermill in Houston will carry on operations. The two companies made the deal due to heavy tree losses to the mountain pine beetle in both of those timber supply areas.
