Potlatch Corp

PotlatchDeltic Corporation (originally Potlatch Corp) is an American diversified forest products company based in Spokane, Washington.

It manufactures and sells lumber, panels and particleboard and receives revenue from other assets such as mineral rights and the leasing of land as well as the sale of land considered expendable. In February 2018, Potlatch acquired Deltic Timber Corp., a smaller Arkansas-based timber company. Following the merger, the company was renamed PotlatchDeltic Corporation. In 2021, the company harvested 5,515,000 tons of lumber.

History

The Potlatch Lumber Company was incorporated in 1903. It planned a lumber mill on the Palouse River and began construction in 1905, completed in 1906. The mill operated until 1981. The company town of Potlatch, Idaho was built to serve the mill. Over 200 buildings were designed by architect C. Ferris White for the firm. The town soon became the second biggest town in Latah County, Idaho, and the firm was the biggest taxpayer in Idaho for some years.

The Commercial Historic District (Potlatch, Idaho), which includes the main administrative building of the company, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. with

In 1985, Canadian businessman Samuel Belzberg's First City Financial Corporation attempted a takeover of the company. Potlatch eventually bought back the corporation's 1.1 million shares, paying $8.1 million and ending the takeover bid. With the buyback, the stock returned to the control of the Weyerhaeuser family, the descendants of the original founder.

In March 2002, Potlatch sold its Cloquet, Minnesota, pulp and printing papers facilities and associated assets to Sappi Limited for US$480 million. This sale marked its exit from the coated printing papers business. Sappi closed the facilities and moved the production to its own plants in Skowhegan, Maine, and Westbrook, Maine.

In 2006, Potlatch restructured to form a real estate investment trust (REIT). In this restructuring all of the company's manufacturing operations are held by a wholly owned subsidiary, allowing the company to refocus on managing their large land holdings in Oregon, Idaho, Minnesota, and Arkansas.

In February 2018, Potlatch acquired Deltic Timber Corp., a smaller Arkansas-based timber company. Following the merger, the company was renamed PotlatchDeltic Corporation. The merged companies owned 2 million acres of timber in total.

Properties

The company owns about of timberland in rural Minnesota, Washington, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Idaho, Wisconsin and Arkansas. The forestry products that it sells are processed at seven company-owned facilities.

Spin-off of Clearwater Paper Corporation

On December 9, 2008, Clearwater Paper Corporation, previously a subsidiary of Potlatch, was created via a spin-off, with Gordon L. Jones, a vice-president of Potlatch, as the new company's president and CEO.

Shares of Clearwater Paper (NYSE:CLW) stock were distributed to Potlatch shareholders at a ratio of 1 share of Clearwater stock for every 3.5 shares of Potlatch stock held, with fractional shares paid in cash. Clearwater stock began trading on December 16, 2008.

In August 2012, since Clearwater Paper's stock had failed to rise, the company prepared to split in two and sell one or both businesses.SAC urges Clearwater Paper to ready itself for sale
''Reuters'', 21 August 2012

References

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Companies based in Spokane, Washington
Pulp and paper companies of the United States
Forest products companies of the United States
Real estate investment trusts of the United States
Financial services companies of the United States
Companies listed on the Nasdaq