News
Western Forest Products to acquire U.S. lumber company Columbia Vista

November 21, 2018 – Western Forest Products has announced it will acquire U.S. lumber manufacturer Columbia Vista Corporation for US$30.5 million.

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

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

“Bringing Western and Columbia Vista together provides Western the opportunity to expand its Douglas fir specialty product offerings, particularly in Japan where our customers have been asking us to source Douglas fir to complement our B.C. hemlock.”

Columbia Vista’s owner, Bob Lewis, will remain on with Western following the acquisition.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 after customary closing conditions. 

Western Forest Products specializes in timber harvesting, sawmilling logs into specialty lumber, and manufacturing. The British Columbia–based company has a lumber capacity of approximately 1.1 billion board feet from seven sawmills.