West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., commonly known as "West Fraser", is a Canadian forestry company that produces lumber,

laminated veneer lumber Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It is typically used for headers, beams, rimboard, and edge-forming material. LVL offers several advantages over typi ...

(LVL),

medium-density fibreboard Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibre, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming it into panels by applying high tem ...

(MDF),

oriented strand board Oriented strand board (OSB) is a type of engineered wood, formed by adding adhesives and then compressing layers of wood strands (flakes) in specific orientations. It was invented by Armin Elmendorf in California in 1963. OSB may have a rough and ...

(OSB), plywood, pulp, newsprint, and wood chips. Based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, the company is a member of the Forest Products Association of Canada. , West Fraser had been recognized eight times as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers.

History

West Fraser Timber was founded in 1955 by three brothers from Seattle: Samuel Kendall Ketcham, Henry Holman ("Pete") Ketcham Jr., and William Peters Ketcham. Their father was

Hank Ketcham Henry King Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painting ...

, who played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the college sports teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA national championships ...

and was inducted to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. The three brothers decided to do business together and purchased a small planing mill in

Quesnel, British Columbia Quesnel () is a city in the Cariboo Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. Located nearly evenly between the cities of Prince George and Williams Lake, it is on the main route to northern British Columbia and the Yukon. Quesnel is loca ...

. Samual Ketcham served as president of the company until his death in November 1977 in a helicopter crash. He was succeeded by Douglas Johnston, and later by Chester Johnson. Henry H. Ketcham, son of "Pete" Ketcham, became president in 1985. He led the company through an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in May 1986. Later, Ketcham also became CEO and oversaw the company until 2012. Ted Seraphim subsequently became president and then CEO, until being succeeded by Raymond Ferris as president in April 2018 and CEO in June 2019. As of 2018, "West Fraser has become the largest lumber manufacturer in North America with 8,600 employees globally – about 5,000 in Western Canada – at about 50 locations." In April 2020, it was revealed that Canadian business magnate Jim Pattison had upped his stake in West Fraser to 13.8% ownership, prompting speculation that the billionaire had plans to merge the company with Canfor, of which he owns 51%. In response, West Fraser adopted a

shareholder rights plan A shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a "poison pill", is a type of defensive tactic used by a corporation's board of directors against a takeover. In the field of mergers and acquisitions, shareholder rights plans were devised in the e ...

or "poison pill" in order to defend against any attempts at a

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

References

External links

* Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Pulp and paper companies of Canada Forestry in Canada {{Canada-company-stub