VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Interfor Corporation has completed the acquisition of four sawmills from Simpson Lumber Company, LLC, increasing its annual lumber production capacity by 30% to 3.1 billion board feet.

The purchase of the sawmills in Tacoma (Commencement Bay), WA; Longview, WA; Meldrim, GA; and Georgetown, SC, are key to Interfor's growth strategy and firmly establishes its presence in the US. Two-thirds of Interfor's total annual capacity is now in the US: 900 million board feet in the Northwest and 1.2 billion board feet in the Southeast.

"Simpson is an iconic company in our industry, founded in 1890," said President and CEO Duncan Davies. "We take great pride in the fact that Simpson's Vice Chair Allan Trinkwald, its Board of Directors and shareholders had the faith in Interfor to take on the responsibility for these mills which have been a core piece of their lumber business."

Interfor purchased the four mills for $94.7 million plus working capital and contingent future payments.