Norbord Riding The Rising Wave Of OSB Sales

by | Jul 20, 2016 | News

For years, it was known as the ugly duckling, cheaper alternative to plywood. One design maven described it as “like the turkey loaf of building materials.” But oriented strand board – OSB for short – has come into its own over the past 3 1/2 decades as a major player in North American wood-frame housing construction and is increasingly used for industrial and other applications.

Structural OSB panels – made of wood strands that are resin-bonded under high pressure and heat – are mostly used as floor, roofing or wall substrate in home building. They’re also getting play these days on fashionable interior-decoration websites as a “shabby-chic” finishing material.

Capitalizing on OSB’s rise like no other forest-products company is Toronto-based Norbord Inc. Norbord, once a diversified forestry company, has shed assets over the years and focused on OSB. Now boasting annual sales in the $1.5-billion (U.S.) range and a market capitalization of about $2.4-billion (Canadian), it bills itself as the world’s largest producer of OSB.

The $763-million acquisition in 2014 of Vancouver-based Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. gave Norbord – whose operations were concentrated in the U.S. southeast – a strong presence in Western Canada as well as a foothold in the promising Japanese market.

Right now, the steadily growing number of housing starts in the United States is giving Norbord a big boost, and low-key, media-shy chief executive officer Peter Wijnbergen says there are major growth opportunities in Europe and Asia.

From The Globe And Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/forest-products-firm-norbord-riding-the-rising-wave-of-osb-sales/article30985989/

Norbord, Ainsworth Lumber Await Go-Ahead From U.S. Justice Dept.

by | Feb 11, 2015 | News

From: Panel World Staff

Norbord Inc. and Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. announced that the Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted a final order approving the previously announced merger of Norbord and Ainsworth. Meanwhile Norbord and Ainsworth are providing the U.S. Dept. of Justice with the information it has requested about the transaction. Subject to the satisfaction of all closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter.

The merger would create the largest OSB producer in the world with an OSB production capacity of 7.7 billion SF, according to the companies.

Norbord, based in Toronto, operates seven OSB North American mills, (six of them in the U.S. South) with one mill in Quebec, along with four mills in Europe. Ainsworth, based in Vancouver, BC, operates four Canadian OSB mills—three in Western Canada and one in Ontario. Prior to this transaction, Norbord reported it was third in OSB production capacity behind Louisiana-Pacific and Georgia-Pacific.

The new company will have opportunities to increase capacity through the expansion of Norbord’s OSB production in Western Europe, the restart of Norbord’s two idled mills in North America, and the completion of Ainsworth’s second line in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

The combined company will operate under the Norbord name. Upon completion of the transaction, Norbord shareholders will own 63% and Ainsworth shareholders will own 37% of the combined company.

Read more on this story in the March issue of Panel World…