Weyerhaeuser has declared victory in its battle to takeover rival Willamette following the election of a new board of Willamette directors.
But Willamette says the election is ‘too close to call’ and there is no clear winner. The final outcome will not be known until the votes have undergone a certification process, which could take up to three weeks.
Early indications are that last week’s vote resulted in three Weyerhaeuser-friendly directors being elected. If their election is confirmed, their first move will be to push Willamette into merger talks with Weyerhaeuser.
Weyerhaeuser chief executive Steve Rogel said: ‘It appears that Willamette shareholders have elected the Weyerhaeuser slate. We believe that the outcome demonstrates once and for all that shareholders want and expect to enter negotiations with Weyerhaeuser.’
William Swindells, chairman of the Willamette board and grandson of the company’s founder, acknowledged that Weyerhaeuser’s nominees might be chosen, but said he was confident they would see that the current Willamette board was ‘acting in the best interests of shareholders’.
