Oct 09, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Masisa sent a significant event to the Superintendency of Securities and Insurance (SVS) informing that it has started a process to tender a sawmill it owns in Rio Negrinho, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The sawmill has an infrastructure dating back to 1999 and it has a production capacity of 220 thousand cubic meters of sawn lumber a year. It also includes a fingerjoint moulding line with a production capacity of 90 thousand cubic meters a year and a co-generation plant with a capacity of 3,750 kVA. The company also informed that this tender envisages the option of receiving tie-in bids for the sawmill alone or this along with the company's forestry lands nearby. These forestry lands consist of a total approximate area of 13,511 hectares of lands and an approximate surface area of 7,140 planted hectares, mainly planted with Taeda pine, located in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The tender process will start on October 15 and is expected to be completed with the final award in the last few days of December 2008 or early in January 2009. Masisa has the right to declare the tender process void if the bids fail to meet its expectations. "For Masisa the objective of this possible sale is to continue to focus on its core wood board business that is commensurate with its strategy, and generate resources to finance a 3-year forestry investment plan, in the meantime paying off financial liabilities," said Masisa CEO Enrique Cibie. The company will continue its growth strategy in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. It should be recalled that approval was given in September 2007 to build a medium density particleboard (MDP) mill at Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, which is scheduled to start up in the 2Q 2009 and entails an approximate investment of R$223 million ($111 million). The construction of this mill is progressing according to schedule.