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West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ("West Fraser" or the "Company") (TSX:WFG) (NYSE:WFG) announced today operational updates on its Dudley, Georgia lumber mill and Chambord, Quebec oriented strand board (OSB) mill as well as the filing of a preliminary short form base shelf prospectus. West Fraser further announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Norbord Inc. ("Norbord") has made an application to cease to be a reporting issuer in Canada.
Operational Updates
Progress on the Company's new lumber manufacturing complex in Dudley remains on track with management's initial expectations. Substantial portions of the new mill are being commissioned and are ramping up, with the new site expected to be fully operational by the end of the second quarter of 2021. Operations at the legacy site will be wound down by the end of the second quarter. When completed and fully ramped up, annual production capacity at the site will increase by 170 million board feet to 270 million board feet, expected to be achieved over the next several years. The Dudley site represents the second full site modernization in the US South by the Company since 2017.
The Company's OSB mill in Chambord has completed commissioning and panels are now being produced and shipped to customers. The Company expects to obtain APA – The Engineered Wood Association certification of Chambord's commodity OSB grades within the coming weeks. The Chambord mill has started the ramp up towards its stated annual production capacity of 550 million square feet (3/8-inch basis), which typically takes 18-24 months. After significant re-investment and with a strong available labour force and committed wood supply in the region, the Chambord mill is expected to be among the Company's lowest cost OSB operations once fully ramped up.
"The teams at Dudley and Chambord have been working safely and diligently to modernize both operations, with Chambord now ready to help meet our OSB customers' needs in time for the critical spring building season," said Ray Ferris, West Fraser's President and CEO.
Shelf Prospectus Filing
The Company has filed a preliminary short form base shelf prospectus with the securities commissions in each of the provinces of Canada and a corresponding shelf registration statement on Form F-10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") under the U.S./Canada Multijurisdictional Disclosure System.
The base shelf prospectus and corresponding shelf registration statement, when made final or effective, will qualify the future offering by West Fraser of up to US$2,000,000,000 of common shares, warrants, subscription receipts, share purchase contracts, debt securities and units, or any combination thereof (the "Securities"), from time to time over a 25-month period. The specific terms of any offering of Securities will be set forth in a shelf prospectus supplement.
The shelf registration statement filed today with the SEC has not yet become effective. No Securities may be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these Securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualifications under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
A copy of the preliminary short form base shelf prospectus can be found on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at http://www.sec.gov or may be obtained upon request from Robert B. Winslow, Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Development, 501-858 Beatty Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 1C1 or by email at shareholder@westfraser.com.
Reporting Issuer Application
Norbord has made an application to the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC"), as principal regulator, under Multilateral Instrument 11-102 – Passport System and National Policy 11-206 – Process for Cease to be a Reporting Issuer Applications for an order to cease to be a reporting issuer in all the provinces and territories of Canada. Norbord has made this application in connection with the completion of West Fraser's recent acquisition of Norbord, as previously announced in Norbord's and the Company's joint news release dated February 1, 2021. If the OSC grants an order in favour of Norbord's application, Norbord will cease to be a reporting issuer in all jurisdictions in Canada.
