Arauco has completed the share agreement for the purchase of 50% stake of the Sonae Indústria’s subsidiary Tableros de Fibras, S.A. (Tafisa), which will be renamed as Sonae-Arauco, S.A.
This is an important step for Arauco, as the company will begin its operations in Europe and South Africa.
With this $150 million USD investment the newly formed company will manufacture and sell OSB, MDF and particleboard panels, as well as sawn timber. This equates to an additional 12 production facilities operating in Spain, Portugal, Germany and South Africa, as reported in a press release of Arauco.
All in all, these facilities will have a panel production output of 2.37 million ft2 (4.2 million m3). With these assets, the combined annual capacity of the Arauco wood panel business will reach 5.09 million ft2 (9 million m3), ranking ARAUCO as the second largest producer globally.
The agreement excludes Sonae Indústria’s operations in North America and the laminates and components business, which will continue to be fully owned by Sonae Indústria.
Thus, Arauco will be able to expand its panel business into the European market
The two companies merged on June 1st 2016.
