Norbord, Louisiana Pacific Corp. exhange ownership of Quebec mills

TORONTO — Norbord Inc. and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. have agreed to exchange ownership of two wood panel mills in Quebec.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Louisiana-Pacific’s mill in Chambord, Que., is bigger than Norbord’s oriented strand board mill in Val-d’Ore, Que., but both have been idled for a number of years

Tennessee-based Louisiana-Pacific said the swap is part of its strategy to increase capacity for its siding business, which has seen rapid growth.

LP also recently acquired a former OSB site in Cook, Minn., to increase its siding capacity.

The Chambord OSB mill that will be acquired by Toronto-based Norbord was built in the 1980s and has a stated capacity of 470 million square feet of OSB panels, which are used in construction.

“While market conditions do not support an immediate restart of Chambord, the asset is in good condition and is located closer to key markets, representing a better competitive opportunity for Norbord,” Norbord chief executive Peter Wijnbergen said in a statement.

Norbord also announced that it had a US$55-million net profit in the third quarter, compared with a $9-million loss in the comparable period last year. Sales increased to $453 million from $378 million.

“As we enter the seasonally slower winter building period, North American benchmark OSB prices remain well above where they were this time last year as US housing starts, particularly single-family, continue to recover and drive increasing OSB demand,” Wijnbergen said.