The deal, coupled with the previously announced purchase of Cascadia Forest Products Ltd, is expected to make Western the largest lumber producer in coastal British Columbia.
Western’s takeover of Englewood includes a 40-year agreement to supply wood chips and pulp to the business’ former owners – a partnership comprising Canfor and Oji Paper Canada Ltd.
The transaction sees Western acquire timber licences covering 6,800ha of private lands, machinery, equipment, railway rolling stock and infrastructure.
Western, which will now have a lumber capacity of more than 1.5 billion board feet a year, said the Englewood deal represented an “important milestone” in the restructuring of the coastal forest industry, as well providing a secure source of logs for the company’s lumber mills.
