VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Forest Products Inc. (TSX: WEF) (“Western” or the “Company”) announced today the completion of its previously announced acquisition of certain assets of Columbia Vista Corporation and related entities (collectively “Columbia Vista”) located in Vancouver, Washington.

“This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of pursuing margin-focused business opportunities that complement our position in selected markets,” said Don Demens, Western’s President and CEO. “We are excited to welcome Columbia Vista’s employees to Western.”

Columbia Vista is a lumber manufacturer that focuses production on Douglas Fir specialty products for the Japanese and U.S. markets. Columbia Vista operates a sawmill business in Washington State and has been in business for over 60 years. The operations employ approximately 90 employees and produced approximately 60 million board feet of lumber in 2017.

About Western Forest Products Inc.

Western is an integrated forest products company, with operations and employees primarily on the coast of British Columbia and in Washington State, and is the largest coastal British Columbia timberlands operator and lumber producer. The Company has an annual available harvest of approximately 6 million cubic metres of timber, of which 5.8 million cubic metres is from Crown lands, and has a lumber capacity in excess of 1.1 billion board feet from eight sawmills. Principal activities of the Company include timber harvesting, sawmilling logs into specialty lumber, and value added remanufacturing. Western is a premier supplier of high-value, specialty forest products to markets worldwide.

Investor Inquiries:

Stephen Williams,
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
(604) 648-4500

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains statements that may constitute forward-looking statements under the applicable securities laws. Readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, may be forward-looking statements and can be identified by the use of words such as “will”, “expected” and similar references to future periods. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to statements relating to the anticipated benefits from the acquisition. Although such statements reflect management’s current reasonable beliefs, expectations and assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements are accurate, and actual results or performance may materially vary. Many factors could cause our actual results or performance to be materially different, including a change in the Company’s financial situation, U.S. and international economic conditions, and other factors referenced under the “Risks and Uncertainties” section of our MD&A in our 2017 Annual Report dated February 15, 2018.