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L-P Wins Bidding War

Boise Cascade declined making a third counterbid, allowing LouisianaPacific to acquire Canadian OSB manufacturer Groupe Forex for approximately $5ll million.

Although Forex's directors in June approved L-P's initial offer of about $408 million, several weeks later, Boise Cascade bid nearly 20Vo more for the company. L-P responded with an offer of $475 million, and Boise made its final bid of $500 million.

Willamette Adding Panel Mill

Willamette Industries plans to build a particleboard plant in North or South Carolina with an annual capacity of 210 million sq. ft.

The company was scouting potential sites and expected to have made its decision by early this month. Site selection criteria included proximity to nearby sawmills and plywood plants for raw materials, appropriate utilities, rail and truck access to markets, and a good labor pool.

Raw materials will consist of pine residuals from local wood processing plants. "This particleboard plant will enable Willamette to further its vertical integration strategy in the East, as we've done in the West and South," says Jerry Taylor, general sales mgr. for Willamette's Rock Hill, S.C.-based Eastern region.

According to Taylor, the market for particleboard is growing at a little more than 4Vo per year and the industry is currently at 97Vo capacity, with no new production on the docket through 2000. Construction on the new plant should begin early next year, with it coming on line in 2001.

New South Adds N.C. Plant

Reportedly making it one of the 20 largest sawmill companies in the U.S., New South, Inc., Myrtle Beach, S.C., has acquired J.L. Sizemore Sons Lumber Co., Graham, N.C.

The acquisition is the first major step in New South's five-year growth plan to double its size and profitability. Within the last year, the company has invested about $10 million in upgrading operations in Camden and Conway, S.C., and plans comparable expenditures in the coming year.

J.L. Sizemore, founded in 1927, built a new manfaciuring facility four years ago, helping to transform the mill into one of the most successful sawmill operations in North Carolina.

Boise Cascade's George Harad said, "We believe our last offer fully and fairly priced Forex. To continue bid-

For Forex

ding at a price above the current offer would not be in the best interests of Boise Cascade and our shareholders."

Unlike L-P, which owns an industryJeading 12 OSB plants throughout North America (see rankings, p. 1ll2), Boise Cascade operates only one OSB facility in Ontario, Canada, and mostly sells in the West. Acquiring Forex's three plants in Quebec would have bolstered the move eastward for Boise Cascade, which is in the midst of acquiring distributor Furman Lumber.

L-P's purchase ofForex is expected to close this quarter.