Conifex Timber Inc. has reached an agreement with BW SLC Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC and the minority shareholders of Caddo River Forest Products, LLC to purchase all of the outstanding membership interests of Suwannee Lumber Holding Company, LLC, Suwannee Timber Management, LLC and Caddo River Forest Products, LLC (collectively, the "BW Group"). The transaction is expected to be closed at or around the end of the 2Q 2018, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
The BW Group owns the Suwannee sawmill in Cross City, Florida and the Caddo River sawmill in Glenwood, Arkansas, which both primarily produce Southern Yellow Pine ("SYP") softwood lumber and specialty products like decking. The Suwannee Mill and Caddo River Mill each have an annual dimension lumber capacity of approximately 185 million board feet on a two-shift basis.
As a result of this transaction, Conifex's annual lumber production capacity will increase by approximately 50% to 1.1 billion board feet while its dimension lumber platform in the Southern U.S. will increase by 200% to approximately 550 million board feet, representing approximately 50% of the Company's total pro forma lumber capacity.
Further, the acquired mills add premium priced SYP decking products to our current product mix, along with long established customer relationships in Florida and the Southern and Eastern U.S.
Both the Suwannee Mill and Caddo River Mill have had significant modernization projects completed in recent years. Most recently, a $12 million modernization and optimization project was completed at the Suwannee Mill in 2017 and approximately $14 million of capital expenditures were completed at the Caddo River Mill in connection with its re-start in May 2017.
Conifex estimates that integrating the acquired mills with its existing operations will generate over $5 million in synergies through procurement opportunities, cost benefits, customer service rationalization, and providing business support services to an expanded number of mill locations.
Conifex and its subsidiaries' primary business currently includes timber harvesting, reforestation, forest management, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, and value added lumber finishing and distribution.
