Fairlee, VT.—Britton Lumber Company has announced that it has agreed in principle to acquire the assets of H.G. Wood Industries located in Bath, New Hampshire. H.G. Wood is a 
premier manufacturer of Eastern White Pine lumber and has been operating a sawmill, planer mill, and kilns on approximately 38 acres in Bath since 1972.
A little over a year ago, Britton Lumber lost its sawmill in a multi-alarm fire. The company has been working diligently and virtually nonstop with its architect, mill designer, State of Vermont and Town of Fairlee officials, and of course its insurance company to determine and evaluate if rebuilding the sawmill was feasible.
“Although we tried our best to rebuild in Fairlee, the business economics, the nuances of insurance, and the reality of rebuilding in a flood zone along the Connecticut River were challenges that we could not overcome,” said Robert Moses, President of Britton Lumber. “With the acquisition of H.G. Wood, we immediately have a facility with an excellent reputation for producing high quality Eastern White Pine lumber. As Britton Lumber celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2016, we are pleased to have a long-term plan to continue to manufacture and distribute pine boards to our customers,” said Moses.
Britton Lumber Company, Inc. is a forest products and building materials business that was founded in 1946. The Company currently operates two divisions. Its manufacturing division produces Eastern White Pine lumber which is sold internally as well as to wholesalers and distributors throughout the United States and Canada. The Wholesale Distribution division buys a wide variety of building materials from manufacturers in North America and distributes them to over 200 retail lumber yards and home centers in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and New York from its wholesale yards located in Fairlee, Vermont and Gray, Maine. With the acquisition of H.G. Wood, the company will have a total of approximately 75 employees.
H.G. Wood was established in 1972 by then chairman of IT&T, Harold S. Geneen who insisted on a standard of excellence and attention to quality to ensure that H.G. Wood would become one of the finest manufacturers of Eastern White Pine boards. Following Mr. Geneen’s passing, F. Colin Cabot assumed the reins of leadership and reaffirmed the tradition of excellence while introducing a new standard of community citizenship that is respectful of the forest resource and our community. Robert Burns has been Chief Operating Officer of H.G. Wood for 32 years and will remain in that capacity.
Britton Lumber and H.G. Wood anticipate closing the transaction in June 2016.
Source: Britton Lumber Company
