MEXICO - In USD 160 million the acquisition agreement of two industrial plants in Mexico was established by Arauco to Masisa, following the modification of the contract signed in December 2017.

This changes the information reported by Arauco at the end of 2017, regarding the acquisition agreement for USD 245 million, through its subsidiaries Inversiones Arauco Internacional and AraucoMex.

With the modification, Masisa decided to maintain the ownership of an industrial plant located in Chihuahua, maintaining itself as an important player in the Mexican market.

The operation will be finalized after approval by the Mexican authorities. The deal will position Arauco as the second largest manufacturer of wood panels worldwide, with an estimated 10 million m3 of capacity per year.

The transaction is part of the divestment process of Masisa's industrial assets in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, announced on July 17, 2017, whose purpose was to significantly lower its level of debt, allowing a significant improvement in the profitability of its business. In this regard the corporate general manager of Masisa, Roberto Salas, stressed that “this process will allow Masisa to focus its commercial activity on higher value-added businesses in the Pacific region (Chile and Andean Countries, Mexico, United States, Canada, Central America and other export markets), maintaining its productive capacity to supply the region from Chile, Mexico and Venezuela.”

For his part, the Manager of Corporate and Commercial Affairs of Arauco, Charles Kimber, said about the operation, “we are very happy with this new acquisition, which is part of our internationalization plan, which seeks to position Arauco as a global company and a leader in the market. With this acquisition, we would be expanding our presence in the panel market in North America, where we see very positive signs of upward trend in this type of products focused on the furniture and home industry.”

In terms of production, the two industrial plants together have three particleboard lines with an installed capacity of 339,000 m3 per year; a line of MDF boards with 220,000 m3 a year capacity and melamine coating lines with an installed capacity of 309,000 m3 per year, a chemical plant to process resins and impregnation lines.