US lumber and pulp producer Pope & Talbot is poised to sell most of its lumber business to Interfor under a US court-approved deal to secure bankruptcy financing.
A judge said a US$89m rescue loan package could go ahead if the lumber business was sold. Interfor has posted a US$69m bid for mills in British Columbia and South Dakota, which is expected to be successful.
Interfor chief executive officer Duncan Davies said the acquisition would dou-ble capacity and expand the Canadian company’s presence in the US.
The proceeds will go toward paying some of Pope & Talbot’s US$247m debt and to provide working capital while the rest of the 160-year-old Oregon-based company is sold.
Pope & Talbot, which employed 2,300 primarily in Canada, crashed in October blaming high debt costs and weak markets that had combined to create an “untenable business environment”.
