NEW YORK (Reuters) - Willamette Industries Inc.'s (NYSE:WLL - news) new board of directors, complete with three dissident members nominated by hostile suitor Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE:WY - news), signaled the timber company isn't planning on selling itself any time soon. The reconstituted nine-member board, which met for the first time on Thursday, agreed to maintain the company's ''long-standing'' strategy of looking for timber companies to buy rather than selling itself, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. By reaffirming that strategy, the company showed no signs of altering its current position that it will not enter negotiations with rival Weyerhaeuser on the terms of the latter's outstanding $5.5 billion bid. The board made no public comment on its discussions related to Weyerhaeuser's takeover offer for Willamette, a Portland, Oregon-based producer of timber and paper products, although sources familiar with the meeting confirmed it was discussed. ``The board reaffirmed management's long-standing program of identifying and reviewing possible acquisition candidates in the forest products industry and discussed the business and operations of a number of such possible candidates,'' Willamette said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites). Analysts said the statement, while not a surprise, indicates the company's resolve is still intact. ``I'm sure Willamette hasn't changed its view that they want to remain an independent entity,'' said Anna Torma, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. The board also authorized Willamette to repurchase up to 10 million shares of its stock, and declared a quarterly dividend of 23 cents per share payable on Sept. 14 to shareholders of record on Aug. 27. The share buyback, if completed, would represent slightly more than 9 percent of Willamette's diluted shares outstanding. While the company said in a prepared statement that it did not intend to initiate any repurchases under the program at this time, it added that it would give management ``the flexibility to provide additional liquidity for shareholders.'' Analysts also said the buyback could make a hostile takeover that much more difficult for Weyerhaeuser. ``This has been an emotional process for both companies,'' said one analyst who asked not to be named. Willamette shareholders in June elected the three Weyerhaeuser-nominees, leading many analysts and investors to predict the vote would eventually force the two sides to the negotiating table. How quickly or even if that happens, however, remains to be seen. Willamette, which is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has not strayed from its vow to remain independent since first rejecting Weyerhaeuser's initial $48 per share stock offer last November. Federal Way, Washington-based Weyerhaeuser later raised its bid to $50 per share, but that too was rejected as inadequate. Even after narrowly losing the three board seats, Willamette President and Chief Executive Duane McDougall told Reuters the company would operate ``business as usual'' unless the board signaled a change in strategy. ``Unless the board changes its vote from the way it has voted three or four times in the past, we're not trying to sell this company and even if we were, $50 is not the right place to talk,'' he said at the time. Weyerhaeuser's current tender offer expires on Aug. 15. At that point the company can choose to extend it -- as it has several times in the past -- if it continues to sense mounting shareholder support for a merger, or drop the bid and simply wait to wage a battle for three more board seats next year. A Weyerhaeuser spokesperson said the company ``hoped (Willamette) won't do anything to destroy shareholder value or delay the ability for Willamette shareholders to take advantage of Weyerhaeuser's offer. As we have said, we would raise our offer if only Willamette will sit down with us.'' Willamette shares slipped 18 cents to close at $48.95 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) Friday, remaining just off the company's 52-week high of $50.65. Weyerhaeuser shares climbed 20 cents to close at $57.95 on the NYSE.