The pulp mill south of Grande Prairie now belongs to International Paper. Weyerhaeuser has sold it and four other pulp mills in the states for a total of $2.2 billion cash.
Two modified fibre mills in Mississippi and Poland were also included in the deal. It was first announced in May and closed this week. The sale will mostly go towards paying off debt.
Weyerhaeuser says it’s switching its focus more to wood products and will be keeping the local sawmill, along with its forestry and timberlands operations in the regions. The pulp mill was originally purchased off of Proctor and Gamble in 1992. Roughly 300 of Grande Prairie’s 600 employees worked on that side of the business.