West Fraser Acquires Daishowa's Interest in Quesnel River Pulp

B.C.-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. and Daishowa Canada Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement on October 15, 2002, whereby West Fraser agreed to acquire Daishowa’s interest in Quesnel River Pulp Co. The transaction closed on December 5, 2002, and the terms of the agreement are undisclosed.

Quesnel River Pulp is a 50/50 joint venture established in 1979 by West Fraser and Daishowa to build and operate a mechanical pulp mill in Quesnel, B.C. The agreement provides that Daishowa will continue to purchase a certain volume of BCTMP and TMP from Quesnel River Pulp. This pulp will be used internally by Daishowa and sold to a number of existing Daishowa customers in Japan.

Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Unipac Holding that was created by the integration of Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. and Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co.

West Fraser was represented by Lang Michener, with a team led by David Ross, Rubina Jamal and Thomas Lamb (corporate), Peter Botz (tax) and François Tougas and Sandra Knowler (competition). Daishowa Canada Co. was represented by Alec Robertson, Q.C., Megan Filmer and Sherrey Collier (corporate), Doug Morley (tax), Michelle Pockey (environmental) and Stanley Wong (competition) of Davis & Company.

Lawyer(s)

David J. Ross Megan Anne Filmer François E.J. Tougas Rubina Jamal Peter Botz Alexander C. Robertson Michelle B. Pockey Sandra M. Knowler Sherrey D. Collier Tom Lamb Douglas Charles Morley Stanley Wong

Firm(s)

McMillan LLP DLA Piper (Canada) LLP DLA Piper (Canada) LLP