CHILE – Arauco sales revenues in 2018 reached USD 5,954.8 million, an increase of 13.7% compared to the USD 5,238.3 million in 2017.

Adjusted EBITDA in 2018 was USD 1,850.5 million, 36.7% or USD 497.3 million higher than the USD 1,353.2 million reached during 2017. Net income for 2018 was USD 726.8 million, an increase of 168.8% or USD 456.4 million compared to USD 270.4 million in 2017.

Wood product sales increased by 5.2% during 2018 reaching 2,761.9 million compared to USD 2,625.2 in 2017.

Furthermore, for 2018 Arauco’s CAPEX increased by 40.7%, amounting to a total of USD 920.3 million in 2018.

As the new year began, news from Arauco kept coming. On January 31, 2019, Arauco through its subsidiaries, Inversiones Arauco International Limitada and AraucoMex S.A. de C.V., acquired the shares of Masisa’s Mexican subsidiaries. The acquisition included two industrial complexes located in Durango and Zitacuro, that jointly account for three Particleboard lines with a total capacity of 300.000 m3 and one MDF line with a total capacity of 250.000 m3. The transaction totaled USD 160.0 million.

More recently, in February 2019, Arauco had the first rollout of panels in the new particleboard mill located in Grayling, Michigan, United States. The amount of this investment is approximately USD 450.0 million and the capacity is 800,000 cubic meters of particleboard per year. This mill is expected to start with the regular panels production in March 2019.