No deal yet for Voyageur Panel

While rumours continue to swirl over the sale of the Voyageur Panel oriented strandboard plant in Barwick, the company said no deal has been confirmed yet.
“There is not a new owner as of yet,” mill general manager Percy Champagne said late yesterday afternoon.
“We have nothing to announce,” echoed Doug Bartells of Boise corporate communications in Idaho.
“We’ll do so very promptly if we reach an agreement with a buyer.
“That’s where we’re at, in a nutshell.
“We had announced some time ago that we were soliciting expressions of interest. And that process is underway,” Bartells added.
There has been talk that Grant Forest Products of Earlton, Ont. is purchasing, or has purchased, the OSB mill, but a spokesperson said yesterday afternoon that “we know nothing.”^In related news, the former Proboard plant in Atikokan, which has been idle since August, was sold Wednesday, according to news reports.
ISCA Financial Services and Fibratech Inc. of B.C. signed an agreement under which Fibratech, owned by former Atikokan resident Danny Warren, will buy the plant’s manufacturing assets, the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal reported.
After several months of sporadic production early last year, the plant closed down in August, citing poor market conditions. The shutdown put 140 employees out of work.
The mill is expected to go back into production as soon as several conditions, including final approval by the Ontario Superior Court, are met, the Chronicle-Journal said.