Boise Cascade Corporation is to sell its timber and paper assets for US$3.2bn in a move predicted by industry analysts following the company’s US$1.2bn acquisition of OfficeMax last year.
The company is selling assets, including 22 wood product facilities in the US, Canada and Brazil, in order to concentrate on the worldwide distribution of office products. Other assets being disposed of include 2.3 million acres of timber and 27 wholesale building distribution centres throughout America.
A new company formed by Chicago investors Madison Dearborn Partners LLC will acquire the assets, with completion scheduled for November.
Boise Cascade chairman George Harad said the deal would transform the company from a manufacturer into a “world-scale distribution company”, with shareholders expecting to net between US$800m and US$1bn in the process.
The firm’s name will be changed to OfficeMax, the Cleveland-based company it acquired last summer, while the new firm buying the timber and paper assets will be called Boise Cascade LLC and based in Boise, Idaho.
Regulatory authorities in the US and Brazil still need to clear the deal.
