Lignetics, Bear Mountain Forest Products announce merger

The two longest running wood pellet manufacturing companies in the U.S. have announced a merger that will create the largest residential wood pellet fuel producer in the United States. Ken Tucker, CEO of Lignetics Inc. and Bob Sourek, CEO of Bear Mountain Forest Products Inc., announced that the two companies have completed a merger, creating a company that will now have a production capacity of approximately 450,000 tons of wood pellets per year. The company will also be the only pellet manufacturing company that will have wood pellet manufacturing plants on both the East Coast and the West Coast. The combined company will have plant locations in Brownsville, Oregon; Cascade Locks, Oregon; Sandpoint, Idaho; Glenville, West Virginia; and Kenbridge, Virginia. The merger brings together some of the industry’s most well-known brands including Golden Fire, Lignetics, Bear Mountain, America's Best, Pres-to-Log, Dry Den, Cozy Den and EZ Equine.

"Completing this merger marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our two companies’ history, making us the market leader in the residential wood pellet industry in the U.S.," Tucker said.

Bob Sourek added, “We are excited about the merger with Lignetics and the ability to offer all of our customers a more diverse product offering, now from five different plant locations.”

In addition to having the market leading, high quality brands of wood fuel pellets (Golden Fire, Lignetics, Bear Mountain, America’s Best and Pres-to-Logs), the array of products that the combined company will be able to offer its customer base is now even more diverse. In the animal bedding category, products feature the patented Dry Den Animal Bedding Pellets with Zeolites, the EZ Equine 100 percent All Natural Pine Animal Bedding Pellet, and Cozy Den Premium Shavings in both pine and cedar. In the product category of fire logs and bricks, the featured products are Bear Mountain Bear Bricks and Pres-to-Logs fire logs, which have been on store shelves since the 1980’s. Additionally, the merger will strengthen the companies’ position in the BBQ pellet market with increased production and distribution of Bear Mountain BBQ Pellets.

Financing for the transaction was provided by Taglich Private Equity LLC, management and Gladstone Capital Corp., which provided subordinated debt and equity financing, along with Texas Capital Bank, who provided senior debt in support of the transaction. Tucker and Sourek also noted that the transaction will give the company the capital base to pursue expansion plans at their current facilities, as well as exploring potential future add-on acquisitions. Tucker noted, “We are excited about the growth opportunities in our business and believe we have chosen excellent financial partners to support us in our goal of being the largest and highest quality residential wood pellet manufacturing company in the U.S.”