RFP adds another southern mill

Roseburg Forest Products’ presence in the southern United States continues to grow.

The Roseburg-based company announced this morning it is purchasing another Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill in South Carolina.

The acquisition of Georgia-Pacific’s Holly Hill mill, a medium density fiberboard facility, comes a month after RFP agreed to buy six other Georgia-Pacific manufacturing plants.

The sales agreements on all seven mills are expected to be completed by Dec. 1, according to an RFP release.

“As with the other six mills we have agreed to acquire from Georgia-Pacific, we found the Holly Hill facility to be very well managed and cared for, with excellent people,” said Allyn Ford, RFP president, in the release.

The Holly Hill facility employs 120 people and has been owned by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific since 1982. The six other mills acquired last month by RFP employ 750 total.

RFP plans to hire “the vast majority of the existing employees,” according to the company’s release. It also states that the new facilities will make RFP one of the largest manufacturers of composite panel products in the U.S.

The latest acquisition is the second Georgia-Pacific mill in South Carolina purchased by RFP, along with four in Mississippi and one in Georgia. RFP also has land and facilities in California, Montana and Oregon.

Ford stated that the company has been looking to get into medium-density fiberboard production for “some time.”

Medium-density fiberboard panels are used for furniture, cabinetry and decorative molding.

Customers include panel laminators, cabinet makers, major home improvement retailers and regional building products suppliers.

Mike Rehwinkel, Georgia-Pacific’s president of wood products, stated in a release that the Holly Hill facility has been a key component of his company’s composite panel business and, “we know it will complement the strategy Roseburg has for its particleboard business.”