Details on B-C's latest sell off

Georgia-Pacific Corp. has Pur' chased all of Boise Cascade's Union Lumber Co. timberlands in northern lalifornia, about 225,000 acres of principally redwood and Douglas {ir. G-P says it also purchased Boise Cascade's lumber and log inventories at Fort Bragg, Ca', adjacent to these timberlands.

R. B. Pamplin, chairman and President of G-P, stated "we have requested permission from the Federal Trade Commission to purchase Boise Cascade's two redwood sawmills, particle-board plant, 100 percent of the stock in the California Vestern Railroad Co. and related facilities at these operations."

Pamplin added that "this permis' sion is necessary in order to avoid a technical violation under our consent decree recently issued in connection with the Louisiana-Pacific spin'off.

"If and when this approval is se' cured, Georgia-Paci{ic expects to purchase these assets. In the interim, al' ternative arrangements have been made with Boise Cascade which assure them of the sale of their plants and the railroad. With GeorgiaPacific's purchase of the timberlands and inventories, the total transaction amounts to the previously announced price of approximately $f20 million," Pamplin said. If the FTC does not approve the sale, G-P will have to sell the assets to a third party.

The Ft. Bragg-headquartered oPeration had estimated sales of $29 million and estimated pre-tax profits of $8 million for the year ended December 31.

R. B. Pamplin observed, "[/e are very pleased with this transaction which repositions Georgia-Pacific as a factor in northern California. The new particleboard plant, with an an' nual capacity of 85 million sq. ft. on ^ 3/^" basis, gives Georgia-Pacific its first West Coast particleboard facility. The lumber operations, with a combined annual capacity of 135 million board feet, will return us to the manufacture of redwood lumber and specialties."

Louisiana-Pacific has purchased BC's Ft. Bragg softwood plywood plant. It also agreed with G-P to buy at cost about 20/o oI the 225,000 G-P is acquiring from Boise. L-P noted the cost of the two acquisitions at about $ll5 million.

John B. Fery, Boise Cascade's president and chief executive o{ficer said, "The sale of these assets substantially completes our program to divest non-realty businesses and investments which, with this sale, has yielded proceeds approximating $350 million. We will use these proceeds to further reduce debt and to {und continuing capital programs in our building materials and paper-related businesses.

"Boise Cascade's timber and wood products operations will now consist of : approximately seven million acres of timberland. either owned or controlled, which support both wood products and paper manufacturing facilities; Ifi lumber mills; 22 ply' rvood/veneer plants; two particleboard plants, and one fibreboard plant."

[-P Buys Summit Lumber Co.

Louisiana-Pacific CorP. and U.S. Industries, Inc. have agreed in principle for L-P to acquire Summit Lumber Co. from U.S.I. for approximately $5 million, according to H' A. Merlo. president and chief operating officer of L-P.

Assets consist of RockY Mountain Timber Co. at Columbia Falls, Mont., Northern 'fimber Co. with mills at Deer Lodge and Philipsburg, also in Montana, and timber cutting con' tracts on approximately 100,000 acres. The firm is not connected with the Summit Lumber Co. of l-ong Beach, Ca.. headed by Leo Seidner'

Summit's manu{acturing facilities include a stud mill, Planer and drY kiln at Deer Lodge, a ChiP'N-Saw operation at Philipsburg and a standard sawmill plus Chip-N'Saw with drv kiln, planer and shipping facilities at Columbia Falls.

"These production facilities and tinrber cutting contracts will be inte' grated with the existing L'P Intermountain f)iv. operations to increase our ability to supply the strong de' mand for our products," said Merlo'

Devqluation & Lumber Prices

The recent devaluation of the dollar is not expected to have much effect on lumber prices in the United States, according to Dr. John Muench, Jr., National Forest Produot Assn.'s forest economist.

'oAlthough the devaluation will make German car$ and Japanese TV's more expensive in the U.S-, the lum' ber consumer will not likely pay more for the- Canadian lumber he uses," Muench said. "The nine billion board feet of Canadian softwood lumber imported last year was 22Vo oI the so{twood lumber consumed in this country. We use about 60/o of the lumber produced in Canada. But, unlike foreign autos and TV's whose prices are set by the manufacturer, the prices for lumber are deter' mined in the market by the relationship between supply and demand."

Muench said that any increase in U.S. lumber prices will come because Canadian producers will receive less from U.S. markets in terms of Canadian dollars. o'This might result in a shift o{ their exports away from the U.S. toward other nationso" he said, "but I do not think thid shift will be significant."

Another factor of devaluation, he said, may be that U.S. lumber is now cheaper on the world market and more attractive for other countries to buy. "This migtrt make less lumber available to the U.S. market and induce minor upward pressure on prices--although again I think the volume affected will be small."