ARAUCO, a global producer of wood products, has announced the purchase of Panolam’s industrial assets located in Albany, Oregon. The acquisition continues the expansion of the company’s presence in the North American market.
“With this acquisition, we are executing on our strategic plan to strengthen our footprint within the decorative laminate market in North America and expand capabilities to service present and anticipated growing demand,” said Kelly Shotbolt, president, ARAUCO North America. “These assets provide the perfect platform to increase lamination production, while adding a second impregnation site, complementing our existing impregnated paper site on the east coast. We are truly excited about adding this facility to the ARAUCO network of mills.”The Panolam complex, which will be called Albany Treating and Lamination (ATL), is situated approximately 10 miles from ARAUCO’s existing particleboard and TFL operations in Albany. The site includes two thermally fused lamination lines with an annual installed capacity of 120,000msf (212,000 m3), as well as two impregnation lines and warehouse capacity.
“We are very pleased with the many advantages of this investment,” said Jake Elston, ARAUCO VP of Operations. “It not only helps us serve a growing marketplace but also brings new team members and manufacturing capabilities to our group that will strengthen our western region business model.”
“We look forward to the new opportunities this acquisition will provide to our customers,” said Kevin Shotbolt, ARAUCO vice president of sales and marketing. “The synergies between these two Albany, Oregon based sites, will allow us to continue with our strategic plan of providing additional TFL laminated panels, and improved service model.”
Along with the acquisition, ARAUCO and Panolam have signed a commercial agreement whereby ARAUCO will manufacture Panolam branded TFL to support west and southern United States, customers.