CANADA (Notifix).- On September 4^th Louisiana-Pacific Corporation  and Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which LP will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Ainsworth. The proposed transaction, has a total value of approximately USD$1.1 billion.

Ainsworth is a leading manufacturer and marketer of oriented strand board (“OSB”) with a focus on value-added specialty products for markets in North America and Asia. Ainsworth’s four OSB manufacturing facilities, located in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, have a combined annual capacity of 2.5 billion square feet (3/8-inch basis), with the potential to increase capacity to 3.1 billion square feet (3/8-inch basis) with the expansion at Ainsworth’s mill in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

“This is an excellent transaction that makes LP more valuable for our customers and our shareholders,” said Curt Stevens, LP’s CEO. “Ainsworth has very high quality assets and provides us with an expanded suite of strand-based products and technologies, additional access to key international growth markets, particularly in Asia, and enhanced scale and efficiencies in North America. We have great respect for Ainsworth and its people, and we intend to take the best of both companies to create a leading provider of strand-based products that is well positioned to meet the evolving needs of customers in North America and abroad.”

Added Mr. Stevens: “The APA consensus projection for U.S. housing starts for the full year 2013 is 957,000, an increase of 23% from 2012. For 2014, the consensus projection is approximately 1.2 million starts. We believe the acquisition of Ainsworth provides LP with greater flexibility and exposure to this recovery.”