https://www.kenoraonline.com/local/kenora-forest-products-sold

A numbered company 1347 LLC operating under Itasca Capital has announced the purchase of Kenora Forest Products for $11.5 million earlier today. Along with the sawmill, Itasca Capital has added Rick Doman of Eacom and Doman Industries to its board, along with Paul Rivett. 

Rivett has joined with John Bitove to buy the Toronto Star for $60 million. Bitove is the founding owner for the Toronto Raptors.

The sale of the sawmill is expected to close Oct. 5, following a court approved sale Sept. 9 in Winnipeg. Management laid off more than 100 workers a year ago, and a labour adjustment office on Matheson Street opened earlier this month. 

Itasca Capital says the operation has access to up to 450,000 cubic meters per year of high-quality, northern spruce, pine, fir timber and is equipped to produce up to 100 million board feet per year on two shifts.

“It is expected that the Kenora sawmill can be optimized to achieve production capacity of 200 million board feet annually,” the media release from Itasca added. 

Itasca Capital will be changing its name to operate under GreenFirst Forest Products. 

“Paul and I are excited to join Itasca’s board and look forward to working with Larry and the Itasca team to begin building GreenFirst as focused on lumber and forestry investments”, said Rick Doman.

“Similar to our recent success building Eacom with the Domtar lumber assets, we look forward to assisting 1347 LLC in its acquisition and optimization of the sawmill, while also looking globally for additional sawmill assets in the future,” Doman added, in a prepared statement.

The media release issued following the purchase says assets include the sawmill and related equipment and lands of approximately 114 acres. The sawmill sits on a 42 acre site leaving over 72 acres of undeveloped lakefront on Lake of the Woods. The sawmill is located near major transportation routes for Canadian markets, as well as key buyers in Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis and Dallas.