Sale of Falls mill complete

Boise Cascade Corp. announced Friday it had completed the sale of its paper, forest products, and timberland assets to a private equity firm in Chicago, Ill. for roughly $3.7 billion (U.S.)
The transaction puts the corporation in the hands of a new company, Boise Cascade LLC, formed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC.
As of Nov. 1, Boise Cascade Corp.’s new name is OfficeMax Inc.
“This transaction completes Boise’s transformation, begun in the mid-1990s, from a predominantly manufacturing-based company to a world-scale distribution company,” said George J. Harad, executive chairman of OfficeMax.
Harad previously served as chairman and CEO of the company under its former name.
W. Thomas Stephens is the new CEO of Boise Cascade LLC.
Boise manufactures wood products at 22 facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Brazil, and operates five pulp and paper mills, two paper converting facilities, six paper distribution centres, and five corrugated container plants in the U.S.
All of these assets, as well as roughly 2.3 million acres of timberland in the U.S., 35,000 acres of eucalyptus plantation land in Brazil, and a 16,000-acre cottonwood fibre farm near Wallula, Wash., were included in the sale.
“Boise Cascade LLC will continue to operate these paper, forest products, and timberland assets from its headquarters in Boise, Idaho, and virtually all current employees and supporting corporate staff will be offered employment by Boise Cascade LLC,” the company said in a press release Friday.