Poor TimingIt has dawned on the market and analysts that West Fraser's substantial issuer bid was poorly timed.
They would have been better off trying to acquire Interfor. Interfor has:
- 4.9 million board feet of capacity,
- established workforce,
- logistics,
- attractive US South assets,
- Eastern Canada assets which would complement West Fraser's OSB operations in Ontario and Quebec,
- substantial duties paid which may be refunded at some point, and
- is currently trading well below replacement costs.
WFG would be much stronger by acquiring Interfor's market share and realizing on the synergies which would exist.
WFG's capital structure could easily afford the debt to make the purchase. In fact right now, their capital structure would be considered inefficient.
Time to be bold Ray.