EACOM Timber to be acquired by B.C.-based Interfor in $490M deal

Burnaby, B.C.-headquartered forestry company Interfor will acquire EACOM Timber Corp. in a $490-million cash deal, the companies have announced.

Interfor said the acquisition would increase its total lumber production capacity by 25 per cent, and help the company grow its presence in eastern Canada.

“This transaction makes Interfor a truly North American lumber producer, with operations in all the key fibre regions on the continent, further diversifying and de-risking our operating platform and enhancing our growth potential and opportunity set,” said Ian Fillinger, Interfor’s president and CEO, in a Nov. 23 news release.

“This transformational growth secures a desirable SPF product mix to meet the growing demand of our customers, at a time when SPF fibre supply is under increasing pressure in other jurisdictions in North America and around the world.

“These are productive and well-managed mills, and we see meaningful opportunities to further enhance their performance by integrating them with our portfolio and applying our proven operating expertise. We are excited for the opportunities that the acquisition brings, and we look forward to welcoming the talented EACOM team into our company and partnering with them to operate and grow the business in the years ahead.”

In purchasing the Montreal-headquartered timber company, Interfor acquires seven sawmills with a combined annual spruce-pine-fir (SPF) lumber production capacity of 985 million board feet; an I-Joist plant with annual production capacity of 70 million linear feet; a value-added remanufacturing plant with annual production capacity of 60 million board feet; and rights to access approximately 3.6 million cubic meters per year of responsibly managed and internationally certified fibre supply.

EACOM’s Northern Ontario assets include sawmills in Ear Falls, Elk Lake, Gogama, Nairn Centre, and Timmins, along with an engineered wood plant in Sault Ste. Marie.

The company has additional assets throughout Quebec.

Under the deal, Interfor also assumes EACOM’s countervailing and anti-dumping duty deposits, which, as of Sept. 30, had totalled US$150 million.

Interfor said the EACOM assets would operate under the Interfor banner, but the company will maintain its “key operating leadership and employees” as well as its Montreal office.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022.