Boise Cascade (BC) announced today it reached an agreement Dec. 18 to buy the Georgia-Pacific (GP) engineered wood facilities in Thorsby, Ala., and Roxboro, N.C., for $215 million. With the deal, GP has shed its engineered lumber assets.
The Thorsby plant makes laminated veneer lumber (LVL). The Roxboro plant produced I-joists; it also has LVL facilities, but those assets are idle.
BC said it will pay for the acquisition with about $90 million of cash on hand and $130 million worth of new borrowing. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2016.
According to Forest Economic Advisors (FEA), a research and analysis company specializing in the wood products industry, the Thornsby mill had a capacity of 3.2 million cubic feet and was in the process of expanding by another 800,000 cubic feet. The LVL operation in Roxboro could produce 5.8 million cubic feet.
"Boise’s share of North American LVL capacity was 28% before the acquisition and 38% after," said Art Schmon, FEA's partner for engineered lumber. "Boise is now far and away the world’s largest manufacturer of LVL with more than 36 million cubic feet of capacity."
As for LVL flange I-joists, Boise's share of production capacity in North America has risen to 24% from 20%, Schmon added.
