world news - 11.11.2002

West Fraser announces the proposed sale of its interest in Alberta Newsprint's mill to a new

West Fraser announced today that a preliminary prospectus has been filed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada for an initial public offering in Canada of units of the newly-created Alberta Newsprint Fund. The proceeds of the offering are to be used by the Fund to acquire a 74.9% interest, 50% from West Fraser and 24.9% from other owners, in a newsprint mill located near Whitecourt, Alberta. Mr. Ron Stern, who co-founded the mill with West Fraser in 1989, will retain his 25.1% interest in the mill.
Alberta Newsprint's mill is a modern, fully-integrated newsprint mill with an annual production capacity of approximately 260,000 tonnes and it is one of the lowest cost producers of newsprint in North America.
"The decision to sell this world-class asset has been very difficult for us," said Hank Ketcham, Chairman and CEO of West Fraser, "Alberta Newsprint has had extraordinarily strong results since its start-up. However, it is our only newsprint operation and we expect that this transaction will allow us to recover a fair value for the asset and continue growing in our core product lines of building-products." © Reuters

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