Rayonier Advanced Materials is an American chemical company specializing in cellulose-based products. Headquartered in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, it produces more than 25 grades of high-purity performance fibers for products ranging from food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals to paints, filters, impact-resistant plastics, and digital display screens. In 2014,

Rayonier Rayonier Inc, headquartered in Wildlight, Florida, is a timberland real estate investment trust ("REIT") with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Its core business s ...

and Rayonier Advanced Materials split into separate companies. Rayonier retained the real estate and forest resource components while Rayonier Advanced Materials took over management of the performance fibers division.RSS news release concerning spin-off
Retrieved 28 May 2014

History

20th century

Rayonier Advanced Materials roots are traced back to 1926 with the founding of Rainier Pulp and Paper Company in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Its first mill opened the next year in

Shelton, Washington Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...

, and Port Angeles on the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and th ...

. The mill used ''

Tsuga heterophylla ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonom ...

'' (western hemlock) trees to create a premium bleached paper pulp. In 1931, Rainier Pulp and Paper began working with the Du Pont chemical company to produce hemlock pulp for the manufacture of rayon. Two additional pulp mills were constructed and began operation in the state of Washington. Rainier Pulp and Paper changed its name to Rayonier, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsFernandina Beach, Florida Fernandina Beach is a city in northeastern Florida and the county seat of Nassau County, Florida, United States. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast, situated on Amelia Island, and is one of the principal municipalities comp ...

, pulp mill, which began production in 1939. In 1944, the company moved its offices to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. As World War II ended, Rayonier began making large land purchases in the Pacific Northwest. The Rayonier Foundation was created in 1952 to provide assistance to charitable, civic and education organizations in the communities where Rayonier did business. Rayonier opened international sales offices in Europe and Asia during 1954. That same year, another pulp mill in the southeast was constructed at

Jesup, Georgia Jesup is a city in Wayne County, Georgia, United States. The population was 9,809 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Wayne County. History By February 1869, Willis Clary had begun building a two-story hotel near the junction o ...

. High demand prompted the facility to double its capacity by 1957. ITT purchased the company in 1968 and the name changed to ITT Rayonier. The Jesup mill grew larger in 1974, becoming the largest pulp mill on earth. Company headquarters were moved again in 1978; this time to Stamford, Connecticut. Diplomatic relations with China were restored in 1979. The following year, Rayonier received orders for pulp and logs. It took almost five years to receive permission to open an office in Beijing, China in 1985. A log-trading office was opened in New Zealand during 1988. The New Zealand government sold Rayonier of timberland in 1992. The company was spun off from ITT in 1994 with the company name reverting to Rayonier and shares again traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Rayonier purchased of timberland in Florida, Georgia and Alabama in 1999, then relocated the corporate offices to

to be closer to company employees and properties.Florida Trend: September 1, 2008-Florida Companies With Promise by Amy Keller
/ref>

21st century

Rayonier converted to a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

(REIT) on January 1, 2004. TerraPointe LLC was established in 2005 to manage properties with development potential. The 2006 purchase of in six states brought the company's total of land owned, leased or managed to in the U.S. and New Zealand. In March 2008, the company purchased for $215 million in southwest Washington state from Sierra Pacific In March 2013, the company sold its wood products division, including its mills in Baxley, Swainsboro, and Eatonton, Georgia, to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

-based International Forest Products (Interfor) for $80 million. In April 2013, the company increased its shareholding in the joint venture ''Matariki Forestry Group'' in New Zealand from 26% to 65% for $140 million.

Creation of Rayonier Advanced Materials

In June 2014, the company split its operations into two independent companies: ''Performance Fibers'' on one hand is named ''Rayonier Advanced Materials'' (NYSE: RYAM) and ''Forest Resources'' together with ''Real Estate'' as a REIT on the other hand continues as ''Rayonier, Inc.'', headed by David L. Nunes as its new CEO. Shareholders of Rayonier have received one share of the new Rayonier Advanced Materials company for every three shares of Rayonier on June 27, 2014.

References

{{Authority control Chemical companies of the United States Plastics companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Jacksonville, Florida Multinational companies headquartered in the United States American companies established in 2014 Chemical companies established in 2014 2014 establishments in Florida Manufacturing companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in California Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange ITT Inc. Publicly traded companies based in Jacksonville, Florida Multinational companies based in Jacksonville