Willamette Industries Inc

Willamette Industries Inc. said it acquired Penntech Papers Inc. of White Plains, N.Y. for an undisclosed sum. Penntech, which produces specialty grades of fine paper, will be operated as a separate subsidiary of Willamette, said Willamette President and Chief Executive William Swindells.

Willamette Industries Inc. said Monday that it has agreed to a sweetened $6-billion takeover offer by rival Weyerhaeuser Co., ending 14 months of jockeying between the two timber giants. The companies said Weyerhaeuser will pay $55.50 a share in cash, 50 cents a share more than what Weyerhaeuser Chairman Steven Rogel last month called his final offer. Willamette said its board is expected to consider the deal before the end of the month.

Timber and paper company Willamette Industries Inc. rejected a $5.3-billion unsolicited offer from rival Weyerhaeuser Co., saying the bid did not reflect its value or growth potential. Portland, Ore.-based Willamette also accused its suitor of taking advantage of poor industry conditions that have battered stock prices. The move, which had been widely expected, means that Federal Way, Wash.

Weyerhaeuser Co. raised its offer to acquire rival timber company Willamette Inc. to $6.05 billion, in a last-ditch attempt to head off Willamette's efforts to quash the deal by buying a Georgia-Pacific Corp. unit. The $55-per-share, all-cash bid--up from the previous $50 offer--comes three days after Willamette's board authorized negotiations to buy Georgia-Pacific's building products unit, a move widely viewed as an attempt to thwart Weyerhaeuser's hostile advances.

Willamette Industries Inc. said Monday that it has agreed to a sweetened $6-billion takeover offer by rival Weyerhaeuser Co., ending 14 months of jockeying between the two timber giants. The companies said Weyerhaeuser will pay $55.50 a share in cash, 50 cents a share more than what Weyerhaeuser Chairman Steven Rogel last month called his final offer. Willamette said its board is expected to consider the deal before the end of the month.

Forest products company Weyerhaeuser Co. on Monday offered to buy rival Willamette Industries Inc. for about $5.3 billion in a deal that would create one of North America's top lumber producers. The unsolicited takeover offer--which at $48 a share represents a 38% premium over Willamette's closing stock price Friday--comes as the industry has been hit with a softening economy as well as low prices and slumping demand for lumber.

Hanson U.S. Timber Assets Sold for $1.58 Billion: Willamette Industries Inc. will acquire the Louisiana and Pacific Northwest timber operations of Cavenham Forest Industries, an affiliate of the British conglomerate, for $1.588 billion. Portland, Ore.-based Willamette said it plans to sell some of the 1.02 million acres of timberland. But it will retain and operate Cavenham's sawmill in Warrenton, Ore.

Paper company Willamette Industries Inc. said its board unanimously voted to recommend that its shareholders reject Weyerhaeuser Co.'s $5.4-million hostile takeover bid. Portland, Ore.-based Willamette said the $48-per-share offer was "inadequate and, among other things, not in the best interests" of the company's shareholders. Willamette's move was expected.

A group of investors holding a 38.5% stake in Willamette Industries Inc. has organized to prevent a takeover of the Portland paper and lumber concern without its consent. The members include Maurie Clark of Portland, who holds 2.1 million shares; Stuart J Shelk Jr. of Prineville, Ore., 240,608 shares; Georgiana G. Stevens of San Francisco, 321,637 shares, and Cornelia T. Wheeler of Portland, 561,927 shares. The group signed a pact Jan.

Weyerhaeuser Co. claimed a tentative victory in its bitter battle for representation on smaller rival Willamette Industries Inc.'s board, a move that could pave the way for the forestry products company to emerge triumphant in its $5.5-billion hostile takeover bid for Willamette. Willamette, however, said the results of the proxy vote likely would not be known for two weeks or more, calling the contest for the three board seats "too close to call."

The board of Willamette Industries Inc. said it has rejected a sweetened buyout offer from rival Weyerhaeuser Co. as a showdown approaches in the hostile takeover bidding launched in the fall by Weyerhaeuser Chairman Steve Rogel. Meanwhile, about 1,400 Weyerhaeuser workers went on strike in Oregon and Washington after contract talks stalled over medical and pension benefits, wages and bringing in outside contractors to do union jobs. Federal Way, Wash.

Paper company Willamette Industries Inc. said its board unanimously voted to recommend that its shareholders reject Weyerhaeuser Co.'s $5.4-million hostile takeover bid. Portland, Ore.-based Willamette said the $48-per-share offer was "inadequate and, among other things, not in the best interests" of the company's shareholders. Willamette's move was expected.

Forest products company Weyerhaeuser Co. on Monday offered to buy rival Willamette Industries Inc. for about $5.3 billion in a deal that would create one of North America's top lumber producers. The unsolicited takeover offer--which at $48 a share represents a 38% premium over Willamette's closing stock price Friday--comes as the industry has been hit with a softening economy as well as low prices and slumping demand for lumber.

In the biggest environmental settlement of its kind, one of the nation's largest wood and paper producers has agreed to spend up to $90 million to resolve allegations that its factories illegally pumped thousands of tons of smog-producing chemicals and other pollutants into the air, federal officials said Thursday. The settlement includes $11.2 million in penalties against Portland, Ore.

Weyerhaeuser Co. sweetened its hostile takeover bid for rival Willamette Industries Inc. by 4%, hoping to end a five-month standoff and clinch a $5.5-billion merger before a scheduled proxy battle next month. Federal Way, Wash.-based Weyerhaeuser said in a letter to Willamette's board that it was raising its bid to $50 a share in cash, up from its previous offer of $48.