Oregon Company To Buy PotlatchDeltic’s El Dorado Plant For $92M

(PotlatchDeltic Corp.)

Oregon-based Roseburg Forest Products has reached an agreement with PotlatchDeltic Corp. to purchase the assets of its subsidiary, Del-Tin Fiber LLC, including the medium-density fiberboard plant in El Dorado, for approximately $92 million. 

Roseburg will pay $63 million in cash and assume $29 million in revenue bond obligations.

The companies expect the sale to close in the first quarter of 2019, pending regulatory approval. The El Dorado plant, which employs 105 people, will continue to operate independently of Roseburg until the deal closes.

“We obtained this well-positioned MDF business through our recent merger with Deltic Timber. The sale of MDF focuses our Arkansas operations on timberlands and lumber while enhancing shareholder value,” PotlatchDeltic CEO and Chairman Mike Covey said in a news release. The company expects to use proceeds from the transaction for general purposes.

This is the third MDF plant acquisition for Roseburg in three years. It acquired a plant in Ontario, Canada in early 2018 and a plant in Medford, Oregon, in 2015.

“Roseburg is gradually expanding its geographic footprint in North America in high-performing markets with growth potential,” Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulbery said in another news release. “The El Dorado facility in Arkansas will allow us to leverage synergies with our existing southern composite panel plants, while delivering our successful MDF brands to a broader customer base.”

Roseburg produces Arreis, Medite, Medex, Permacore and Fibrlite product lines.

“The culture of the El Dorado plant fits Roseburg well, not only from a sales and marketing standpoint, but also from structure and values perspectives,” Jim Buffington, Roseburg’s business director for Industrial Products, said in the release. “As a company, we are committed to the composites business in North America, and look forward to welcoming the El Dorado plant and its team members to our organization.”

PotlatchDeltic Corp. owns nearly 2 million acres in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi and operates seven other wood products manufacturing facilities, including three sawmills in Ola, Waldo and Warren, Arkansas.