Louisiana-Pacific is to make a further divestment in the engineered wood products (EWP) business division. The company has entered into an agreement with Resolute Forest Products (RFP) concerning the sale of its 50% stake in the joint ventures Resolute-LP Engineered Wood Larouche and Resolute-LP Engineered Wood St-Prime Partnership.
The two factories have an annual I-joist production capacity of 145m lft; according to RFP, in 2020 they produced 134m lft. The purchase price was set at US$50m, subject to customary adjustments. Completion of the transaction - which is also subject to official approvals and certain closing conditions - is expected during the first half of the year. Through an additional agreement, Louisiana-Pacific will then be the exclusive distributor of the products manufactured at both sites. In the past, RFP has been responsible for operating the factories, while Louisiana-Pacific has been responsible for I-joists sales.