Future at Conway plant unclear after bankruptcy – Arkansas Online

The future is uncertain for Structurlam Mass Timber Corp.'s Conway plant as the company moves through bankruptcy proceedings, an official said Tuesday.

The Conway plant, which was producing cross-laminated timber for buildings in Walmart's new headquarters campus in Bentonville, had about 144 employees when it was suddenly shut down in January after Walmart canceled the contract.

Mercer International Inc., a global forest products producer, has reached an agreement to buy the 288,000-square-foot Conway plant and all of Structurlam's assets for $60 million, according to the bankruptcy announcement.

That proposal, however, is subject to a court-supervised auction process.

"Mercer International has not yet acquired ownership of the Structurlam company and its Conway facility," Paul Sehn, Structurlam's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said, noting the agreement is binding but is subject to a better offer from another bidder.

"During the auction process, other interested parties can provide higher bids, including Mercer," Sehn said in a statement. "The process is expected to conclude towards the end of May, at which time one successful party will take ownership of Structurlam's operating assets."

Structurlam stirred great interest in December 2019 when it announced a $90 million investment to make the Conway facility the company's first manufacturing facility outside Canada, highlighting a strategic partnership with Walmart that included an equity investment from the retailer. The investment was tied to a deal to produce 1.7 million cubic feet of timber for Walmart's new corporate headquarters in Bentonville.

The company also outlined ambitious expansion goals, which included adding sales offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Nashville, Tenn., to win other clients.

In the bankruptcy filing, Structurlam listed assets between $100 million and $500 million and the same range in liabilities. Walmart was the largest unsecured creditor at $34 million.

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Future at Conway plant unclear after bankruptcy - Arkansas Online