NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Willamette Industries' (NYSE: WLL) Board
of Directors today declared a 2-for-1 split of its outstanding common stock.
The split will be implemented as a stock dividend, payable September 12, 1997
at the rate of one new share of common stock for each share held of record on
August 25, 1997.
    The directors also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend, payable
September 12, 1997, at the rate of $.32 for each pre-split share of common
stock held of record on August 25, 1997.  The $.32 quarterly dividend would
translate to a $.16 quarterly dividend rate on post-split shares, but the
timing and amount of future cash dividends remain subject to the discretion of
the board of directors.
    Willamette's board also approved plans for the construction of a new
engineered wood products complex in northern Louisiana; the upgrade of a paper
machine at the Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania fine paper mill and the installation
of environmental projects at the fine paper mill and the medium density
fiberboard (MDF) plant near Bennettsville, South Carolina.
    Willamette will construct a laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and wooden
I-joist facility adjacent to its glue-laminated beam plant near Simsboro,
Louisiana.  The plant will convert high-grade veneer from Willamette's
northern Louisiana plywood plants into LVL.  The LVL will be sold in the beam
and header market or combined with oriented strand board, made at a Willamette
facility in nearby Arcadia, and made into I-joists.  The complex will improve
the company's vertical integration in the region and increase its
participation in the value-added engineered wood products market.
    The third phase upgrade of the #1 paper machine at the Johnsonburg, PA
fine paper mill was approved by the board.  The machine upgrade will result in
improved paper quality,  the capability to add a wider array of specialty
papers to the machine's paper grade mix and a modest increase in production.
    Willamette will also install a new 40 ton per day chlorine dioxide
generator at its Marlboro Paper Mill to eliminate its use of elemental
chlorine.  A regenerative thermal oxidizer, press vent controls and related
air pollution control equipment will be installed in the Bennettsville MDF
plant.  The projects are entirely environmentally-oriented and do not increase
production capacity.
    Willamette Industries is an integrated forest products company with
1.8 million acres of timberland in the U.S. and 97 plants in 23 states and
Ireland.

Link to this page: