Weyerhaeuser Selling B.C. Assets

Weyerhaeuser Co. has agreed to sell its B.C. Coastal Group assets to Brascan Corp. for approximately $970 million plus working capital.

Weyerhaeuser expects to complete the sale in the second quarter and will use the proceeds for debt repayment. Weyerhaeuser acquired the B.C. timber properties as part of its MacMillan Bloedel takeover in 1999.

The transaction includes 635,000 acres of private timberlands and annual harvesting rights to 3.6 million cubic meters of public land timber. The sale also includes five softwood sawmills, with a combined annual production of 690 million bd. ft., and two remanufacturing facilities.

"This sale will allow Weyerhaeuser to focus on its core North American softwood lumber business. while strengthening its balance sheet," said Sandy D. McDade, president of Weyco's Canadian subsidiary, Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd.

Following the transaction, Weyerhaeuser will still have a significant presence in Canada and British Columbia. The company will continue to employ about 7,000 Canadian employees-producing and distributing softwood and hardwood lumber, engineered wood, oriented strand board. pulp. and fine paper-in seven

Weyco Returning To New Mexico

Weyerhaeuser Co. is opening a Customer Service Center in Albuquerque, N.M., to serve New Mexico and west Texas.

The company will leased 28,000 sq. ft. for a lumberyard and distribution center.

Weyerhaeuser shuttered a previ- ous facility in Albuquerque in the mid-1990s and has been serving the area from CSCs in Denver. Co., and Phoenix, Az. provinces.

Peter Hess, sales manager for the Phoenix branch, will relocate to serve as sales manaser of the new Albuquerque CSC.

"These timberlands are high-quality assets that share many characteristics with our property and power holdings," said Sam Pollock, president of Brascan Investments. Brascan can pay for the timberlands purchase from its existing lines of credit and cash holdings.

Most of the fir and cedar trees Brascan is buying will be exported to American and Japanese customers. In addition, the company has earmarked forestland that borders on urban areas on Vancouver and the B.C. Lower Mainland for potential sale to real estate developers.

Brascan is expected to sell the sawmills and and certain logging rights that could fetch more than $300 million. The company reportedly would then move the forest holdings into a free-standing fund. Up to half of this timberland fund will be sold to outside investors, such as pension funds, with Brascan running the forests in return for a performancebased fee.

Toronto. Ontario-based Brascan manages $7 billion in assets, including timberlands, real estate, and power generation.