BURNABY, British Columbia -- Interfor Corp. acquired 28,684,433 common shares of GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. from Rayonier A.M. Canada.

Interfor paid approximately C$56 million in cash and now owns approximately 16.2% of GreenFirst's issued and outstanding shares.

Interfor said its investment in GreenFirst is complementary to its expansion into Eastern Canada through the acquisition of EACOM Timber Corporation in February.

Toronto-based GreenFirst operates seven sawmills and one paper mill in Eastern Canada, and licences that provide long-term access to approximately 3.7 million cubic metres of fibre in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The sawmills have a stated annual production capacity of 905,000 million board feet.

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