Canfor subsidiary complete purchase of Swedish sawmills

Citizen staff Canfor’s Swedish subsidiary, Vida Group, has completed a purchase of three sawmills in the Scandanavian country. The company confirmed the acquisition in a brief notice issued in August. It follows on a June 17 announcement that Vida entered an agreement to buy the mills for $43 million plus working capital. Purchased from Bergs Timber, they are located in Vimmerby, Mrlunda and Orrefors, Sweden, and will add about 215 million board feet to Vida’s annual capacity. With additional investment, Vida anticipates the production capacity of the mills can be increased to 300 million board feet, Canfor said in the June statement. After taking into account this additional production capacity, Canfor said Sweden represents 22 per cent of the company’s production capacity, plus 43 per cent in British Columbia, 31 per cent in the southern United States and four per cent in Alberta. Canfor has a 70-per-cent stake in Vida Group, the company said.