Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. has completed its previously announced acquisition of 100% of Teal Jones Louisiana Holdings LLC, finalizing the deal on July 1, 2025. The company paid $29 million, a price revised from the initially planned $42 million following court-approved adjustments in Canada and the U.S., and made Teal Jones Plain Dealing LLC a consolidated subsidiary. The 98-hectare Louisiana sawmill will produce 500 thousand m3 of dimension lumber annually, enough to build approximately 14,000 U.S. homes, based on processing 1 million m3 of logs each year, according to Sumitomo Forestry.
The site includes roughly 40 hectares reserved for future mass timber production and biomass processing. The sawmill will supply lumber to external buyers and to Sumitomo Forestry’s Fully Integrated Turn-key Provider (FITP) operations as well as its housing and real estate development arms, including DRB, Bloomfield (which together contributed around 40% of the 11,267 housing units sold in 2024), and Dallas-based JPI.
Sumitomo Forestry plans to expand its U.S. plant network from 10 to 15 locations by 2027. The company already operates 10 U.S. plants through its Fully Integrated Turn-key Provider (FITP) operations, which produce housing components such as panels and trusses. The sawmill’s proximity to Dallas places it in one of the highest-demand markets for wood products in the country. The use of Southern yellow pine from sustainably managed forests in the southeastern U.S. ensures a stable domestic supply, minimizing exposure to tariffs and imported material price volatility.
The company aims to integrate the new operation into its U.S. Wood Cycle value chain, covering forestry, processing, and housing supply. It plans to use manufacturing residues for biomass energy and bio-based material production. The investment supports Sumitomo Forestry’s Mission TREEING 2030 strategy to promote decarbonization by expanding long-term carbon storage through timber construction and cascading wood use.
The sawmill site was originally developed by Teal Jones Group, a Canadian forestry products company, which announced a $110 million investment in July 2022 to construct a new southern yellow pine lumber facility in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. The 235-acre greenfield site was expected to generate 125 direct jobs with average annual salaries of $47,000, plus an estimated 369 indirect jobs. Site work included access to rail infrastructure and nearby timberlands and was projected to complete by the third quarter of 2023.
However, on April 25, 2024, Teal Jones Group filed for creditor protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), later obtaining a Provisional Recognition Order under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on May 9, 2024. The company, whose assets were valued above its liabilities, began a restructuring process supervised by PwC as court-appointed monitor. As part of this process, Teal Jones initiated a Sales and Investment Solicitation Process (SISP) to divest assets, ultimately leading to the sale of the Louisiana sawmill operations to Sumitomo Forestry.
Sumitomo Forestry Ltd., the Tokyo-based parent company, ranks as the 6th largest builder of multifamily units and the 8th largest builder of single-family homes in the U.S. Its holdings span Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. Since entering the American housing market in 2003, the company has made several major U.S. acquisitions, including Crescent Communities in 2018, Southern Impression Homes and Biscayne Homes in Florida during 2023–2024, and a 90% stake in multifamily developer JPI in 2023.
