West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Georgia Pacific’s oriented strand board (“OSB”) mill near Allendale, South Carolina for approximately $280 million. The transaction is anticipated to close following successful completion of U.S. regulatory reviews and satisfaction of customary conditions. Management will provide an update and further details about the transaction on West Fraser’s third quarter earnings call on October 28, 2021. All dollar amounts in this news release are expressed in U.S. dollars. The Allendale facility, which initially began producing OSB in 2007, has been idle since late 2019 and has an estimated stated capacity of approximately 760 million square feet (3/8-inch basis). The Company intends to invest an estimated $70 million of additional capital to upgrade and optimize the facility in preparation for its restart and this upgrade is anticipated to take approximately nine months to complete. The mill is expected to directly employ approximately 135 people and be one of the lowest cost mills in the Company’s OSB portfolio after the optimization is complete and the mill has ramped up to full production, a process that typically takes 18-24 months after restart.

Young people in South Africa’s rural areas have been using their power to communicate by getting active on their social media platforms with useful information about curbing the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Thanks to a useful set of illustrated messages created by Sappi Southern Africa about how to combat the disease, the team of Abashintshi are actively aligning their activities with the theme for South Africa’s 2020 Youth Month, which is : “Youth Power: Growing South Africa together in the period of COVID-19”. The Abashintshi are a group of enthusiastic youngsters who volunteered to receive community development training sponsored by Sappi over the last recent years and have been using this knowledge to bring about social mobilisation in their communities. “Normally they would be arranging the Sappi-sponsored school holiday programmes around now to keep youngsters entertained, but the lockdown and the disruption of school schedules, prevented them from doing so this year”, comments Mpho Lethoko, Sappi Southern Africa Communications Manager.

In 2019, UPM Raflatac announced that RAFNXT+ was the world’s first label material verified by The Carbon Trust to reduce its carbon footprint and help mitigate climate change. Now, UPM Raflatac takes a step further in providing its customers with more sustainable solutions in labeling and introduces its RAFNXT+, the world’s first CarbonNeutral® label material certified as a CarbonNeutral® product by Natural Capital Partners. "The recent IPCC climate report showed that the time to act is now. There is more than a 50% chance that global warming will exceed 1.5 °C in early 2030s. Consumer brands have set ambitious climate targets, and they are looking for tangible solutions to take positive action in a credible manner. Product packaging plays an important role here, and we can help our clients make a difference in the battle against climate change," says Robert Taylor, Sustainability Director at UPM Raflatac. As a part of its climate approach, UPM Raflatac is continuing reducing its own emissions as well as emissions from raw materials and transportation. The positive climate action of choosing RAFNXT+ instead of a standard labeling material is verified by The Carbon Trust, including the smarter use of raw materials which reduces pressure on forests and increases the capacity to improve mitigation of climate change.