Louisiana Pacific, a buildings manufacturer that operates the mill in Golden, has announced that they will be evaluating new strategic options for their Engineered Wood Products (EWP) businesses, of which the Golden mill is a part.
This will be a part of LP’s transformation strategy, which the company launched a few years ago and will see the focus shift to its siding and Oriented Strand Board (OSB) businesses, which LP sees the potential for future growth.
The decision to re-evaluate and make the change comes after it was announced that LP Houlton, the LP mill in Maine, will be converted into a manufacturer of SmartSide, LP’s siding product, in a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
“With Houlton converting to SmartSide, we will cease LSL [laminated strand lumber] manufacturing there sometime this year, a change that has contributed to a broader re-evaluation of our product portfolio,” said CEO Brad Southern in Tuesday’s call.
“Due to the loss of LSL from our EWP portfolio coupled with our inability to earn the cost of capital in EWP consistently, we have decided to evaluate strategic options for our remaining Engineered Wood Products business.”
LP has stated that they remain committed to their EWP operations, employees and customers throughout this process. Breeanna Straessle, senior manager of corporate communications for LP, confirmed that the recent decision will not affect employment at the Golden Mill.
”We need our current workforce to continue operating the mill, which is our intent until a strategic alternative has been identified,” said Straessle.
“Through this process, we will remain committed to operating our EWP business in a way that best benefits LP and all our stakeholders.”
There is no timeline for identifying a new strategic approach or for describing it.
“Currently, we simply do not know more or where these strategic alternatives could ultimately lead us,” said Straessle.
A potential sale of the mill is not off the table, according to Straessle, but there are no plans in the works currently to offload the Golden mill.
LP will not provide further information until a new strategic approach is identified.
