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Brink Forest Products not on block
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Saturday, March 11, 2006
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Brink Forest Products president John Brink is selling some of his private properties in Prince George, but the wood products company is not on the market.
"In terms of selling the company, that is not the case," Brink said Friday, answering speculation that he was pulling out of Prince George. "The company is not on the market."
Brink said he will be selling residential property, likely including his home, as well as some commercial property, including NRT Ready Mix.
"I think the time is right in the community to sell a bit of the odds and ends I have," said Brink.
Property values have gone up in Prince George in the past three years. Brink said he is also spending more time in Alberta following the purchase of Palliser Lumber, which is part of the reasoning for selling his home in Prince George. He also owns a residence in North Saanich on Vancouver Island.
It's possible he'll maintain a smaller home or apartment in Prince George, but said he will be spending less time here.
Brink Forest Products announced in October it had bought Palliser Lumber Sales, combining the two largest lumber remanufacturers in B.C. and Alberta. The purchase nearly doubled the size of Brink Forest Products Ltd., based in Prince George, creating a company with nearly 500 employees and production capacity of lumber products of 500 million board feet a year. Palliser is located just outside of Calgary.
Brink has been on an aggressive push to expand his company in the past few years. At the end of 2003 the company announced it had bought Pleasant Valley Remanufacturing in Houston, 300 kilometres west of Prince George. The plant produces wood blocks which are the feed material for finger-jointing.
Then in 2004, Brink added a pair of finger-joint manufacturing lines at his operations in Prince George. The company was also building a sawmill on land in the BCR Industrial site, but that project has been put on hold, said Brink.
He still hopes it can be completed, but said he needs some kind of more secure access to timber harvesting rights.
ghoekstra@princegeorgecitizen.com
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