West Fraser has sold its Quesnel River pulp mill in Quesnel, along with its pulp mill in Slave Lake, Alberta, to Atlas Holdings for $120 million US, the company announced in a statement Friday (Sept. 22).
Atlas owns and operates several pulp, paper and wood products businesses in Canada and the United States. The Quesnel and Slave Lake pulp mills will be operated by Millar Western Forest Products, which became part of Atlas Holdings in 2017.
The agreement includes related woodlands operations and timber holdings in Alberta and a long-term fibre supply agreement for the Quesnel River pulp facility, the statement said.
Millar Western is a more than 100-year-old Canadian forest products company headquartered in Edmonton with existing pulp mill operations in Alberta.
“We believe this transaction provides these two great assets and teams a strong strategic future while allowing West Fraser to focus our resources on our objective to be the premier wood building products company in North America,” said Ray Ferris, West Fraser president and CEO in a news release. “Atlas Holdings and Millar Western bring deep experience in the pulp sector, and we look forward to continuing to work together as a key fibre supplier to Quesnel River Pulp.”
“This transaction will provide the dedicated and skilled teams at Quesnel River and Slave Lake with a solid future. Our team intends to continue investing in these high-quality mills and we look forward to collectively strengthening our product offerings and value proposition to the global BCTMP marketplace,” said David Anderson, CEO of Millar Western.
The transaction is anticipated to close following successful completion of customary regulatory reviews and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, West Fraser said in the statement.
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