Weyerhaeuser containerboard mills sold to IP
By Arthur McLean Editor

PHOTO COURTESY WEYERHAEUSER The Weyerhaeuser forest products complex (pictured) will remain under Weyerhaeuser's ownership, but the containerboard operation at the same location will be purchased by International Paper Company.

Weyerhaeuser and International Paper reached an agreement this week for IP to purchase Weyerhaeuser's containerboard packaging and recycling business.

The containerboard operation in Pine Hill is included in the sale that affects 72 packaging locations, 10 specialty packaging plants, and 23 other operations under Weyerhaeuser's ownership. International Paper paid $6 billion in cash for the purchase.

Jackie Walburn, a spokeswoman for Weyerhaeuser, said the deal affects the containerboard operation which employs 370 people at the Pine Hill mill. Weyerhaeuser will continue to own and operate the lumber, veneer and timberlands operations in Pine Hill.

About 300 people are employed by those operations, Walburn said.

The deal is expected to be closed later (third quarter) this year. Weyerhaeuser had been seeking a buyer for the containerboard operations for about 10 months, Walburn said.

PHOTO COURTESY WEYERHAEUSER Rolls of containerboard product come off a machine at the Pine Hill mill that is part of the $6 billion acquisition by International Paper Co.

Carol Roberts, senior vice president of International Paper's packaging business, said she sees considerable opportunities in the deal. "Weyerhaeuser has low-cost, well-run assets that complement our existing mill and converting system and offer significant synergies," she said. "The acquisition expands our geographic presence in the U.S. and Mexico and diversifies our customer base in key product lines. All of this will make our packaging business more competitive, more profitable and better able to serve customers."

The operations that will remain with Weyerhaeuser are the iLevel Lumber Technologies, iLevel Veneer Technologies, and tree nursery and timberlands management locations.

The move is part of the company's refocusing on timber products. "This future begins with the trees and the land, and our outstanding stewardship of these resources," said Steven R. Rogel, CEO of Weyerhaeuser. "To this we add our unique expertise in growing and extracting value from the trees and the land on which they grow."

Weyerhaeuser's Pine Hill facility began as the first U.S. operation of MacMillan Bloedel, a Canadian forest products company. Lumber production began in 1967 and paper operations the next year. The Pine Hill facility became a part of Weyerhaeuser Company in 1999, when MacMillan Bloedel was purchased by Washington state-based Weyerhaeuser.

The Pine Hill operation is Wilcox County's largest employer.

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