End of an Era: Spray Lakes Sawmills sold to West Fraser Timber

After 80 years, Spray Lake Sawmills, perhaps the most iconic private company and oldest corporate entity in Cochrane, is being sold to a BC-based forest products company.

Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) Ltd. announced on Sep. 7 it has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., indirectly through a subsidiary, will acquire all of the company’s issued and outstanding shares.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.

It is the end of an era.

“The transaction presents an exciting milestone for Spray Lake Sawmills,” said president Barry Mjolsness, in a statement issued Thursday morning.

“We believe the transaction secures the long-term future of our operations and delivers the stability to support the continued investment in our business, in our people and in the surrounding communities,” Mjolsness added.

In an interview with The Eagle, Spray Lake vice-president of woodlands Ed Kulcsar said employees were assured the day before the announcement that operations will continue, and there was no need for the anxiety that may be considered normal in corporate announcements like this.

He said the company’s logging operations are currently “full steam ahead.”

Technically, the company is now in an interim stage where they have to wait for all the regulatory reviews before the transaction is actually closed.

Kulcsar indicated the situation was maybe a sort of natural progression for a family-owned business like Spray Lake.

“We being a privately owned company, you do have to plan for the future and look at what successional processes are in place and our ownership is where he is in life and all he had accomplished at Spray Lake Sawmills, bringing our company to the high level of achievement over the over the full 80 years,” he said.

“He just felt it was it was time for him to move on and hence the purchase agreement.”

 Kulcsar said employees should actually feel they have more security now.

“I think this really does secure the long-term future for our operations here in Cochrane,” he said.

The much larger BC-based, international company can provide more security as compared to a privately-owned family business.

And the benefits flow both ways.

“Spray Lake can bring a lot of knowledge and uniqueness into the West Fraser family that I think they see will be a big benefit to them as well,” Kulcsar added.

He said the diversity of the Spray Lake product mix has helped them ride through the ups and downs of the lumber markets, and now that they will become part of an even larger product mix, there will be synergies that will enhance their ability to adjust to those fluctuations.

It’s too early to speculate on the possibility that the purchase might mean the end of the Spray Lake Sawmills name, or what effect that might even have on the recently renamed SLS Centre.

All in all, Kulcsar said the mood is upbeat at the facility on Griffin Road.

“We're excited about this opportunity and about this next phase in the life of Spray Lake Sawmills.”

For now, Spray Lake Sawmills is a privately held, family-owned forest products company that has been operating in Southern Alberta for 80 years. Operating an advanced technology mill, the company produces softwood lumber and specialty treated wood products for the Western Canadian market.

Spray Lake employs just over 200 people directly, but with all the contractors involved, the operation probably supports over 400 families.

Between 1993 and 2021, Spray Lake Sawmills had donated nearly $400,000 to STARS Air Ambulance.