May 22 (Reuters) - Lumber company Weyerhaeuser said on Thursday it will acquire
nearly 117,000 acres of timberlands in North Carolina and Virginia from a unit of Roseburg
Forest Products for $375 million.
The company said that the acquisition is expected to deliver immediate and sustained
portfolio-leading cash flows within its Southern Timberlands business.
"Upon closing of this acquisition, we will have acquired more than $1.1 billion of
high-quality timberlands since the beginning of 2022, achieving the multi-year growth target we
announced in September 2021," said CEO Devin Stockfish.
The company owns about 10.5 million acres of timberlands across the U.S., primarily in the
West, South and Northeast.
U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats have been motivating more lumber producers to
shift to the U.S. southern border while accelerating efforts to find new markets.
Weyerhaeuser warned in April that U.S. import levies might increase its product and raw
material costs, and a slight pullback in lumber demand was observed due to tariff-related
uncertainty weighing on homebuilder sentiment.
The timberlands acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter and is subject to
customary closing conditions.
Separately, on Wednesday, the company announced that it would sell its lumber mill in
British Columbia, Canada, to wood products manufacturer Gorman Group for nearly C$120 million
($86.60 million).
($1 = 1.3857 Canadian dollars)