Conifex Inc. is the successful bidder for the bankrupt Pope & Talbot's Fort St. James sawmill, beating out Asia Pulp & Paper.

Conifex is paying $12.8 million for the sawmill. Conifex also assumes about $3 million in liabilities, mostly reforestation obligations, and expects to spend another $12 million on upgrading equipment at the mill, bringing its total investment up to about $28 million.

The Fort St. James mill has a capacity of 250,000 board feet and employs 238 workers. It shut down last fall when Pope & Talbot sought bankruptcy protection, throwing not only sawmill workers but contract loggers out of work.

The deal is expected to close by the end of this month (July), opening the way for loggers to return to work in early August. Once enough logs are in the yard, the sawmill will start up.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was unable to secure deals to sell Pope & Talbot's two pulp mills: Harmac and Mackenzie. Yesterday B.C. Supreme Court Justice Donald Brenner extended Pope & Talbot's creditor protection for another 10 days.

At Harmac, an employees group that submitted bids that were rejected by the receiver has joined forces with two other bidders to make a joint offer.

Source:
Conifex buys bankrupt mill - Fort St. James purchase launches company with deep B.C. roots and big growth aspirations (Vancouver Sun)