West Fraser Timber, a North American lumber and engineered wood product producer, signed an agreement to sell its Quesnel River Pulp mill in Quesnel, British Columbia, and its Slave Lake Pulp mill in Slave Lake, Alberta, to Atlas Holding. West Fraser said the combined total cash proceeds from the sale totaled USD $120 million.

Atlas Holdings owns and operates several pulp, paper, and wood products businesses in Canada and the United States. The sale agreement includes related woodlands operations and timber holdings in Alberta and a long-term fiber supply agreement for the Quesnel River Pulp facility.

Upon the closing of the transaction, the Quesnel River and Slave Lake pulp mills will be operated by Millar Western Forest Products, which joined the Atlas family of manufacturing and distribution businesses in 2017.

“We believe this transaction provides these two great assets and teams a strong strategic future while allowing West Fraser to focus our resource son our objective to be the premier wood building products company in North America,” Ray Ferris, West Fraser president and CEO, said in a news release. Atlas Holdings and Millar Western bring deep experience in the pulp sector, and we look forward to continuing to work together as a key fiber supplier to Quesnel River Pulp.”

Millar Western is a Canadian forest products company headquartered in Edmonton with existing pulp mill operations in Alberta.

“This transaction will provide the dedicated and skilled teams at Quesnel River and Slave Lake with a solid future,” David Anderson, CEO of Millar Western, said. “Our team intends to continue investing in these high-quality mills and we look forward to collectively strengthening our product offerings and value proposition to the global BCTMP marketplace.”

The transaction is expected to close following the completion of customer regulatory reviews and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

“Millar Western is highly respected as a leader in wood products in the region and beyond and we look forward to welcoming the Quesnel River and Slave Lake mills to the Atlas family of companies,” said Atlas partner Neil Mahajan.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, West Fraser operates more than 60 facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and founded in 2002, Atlas and its affiliates own and operate 27 companies, which employ more than 50,000 associates across 300 facilities worldwide.