ATLANTA - Georgia-Pacific Corp. announced that the company has agreed to be purchased by Koch Industries Inc., Wichita, Kan. The companies have reached a definitive agreement in which Koch Forest Products, Inc., a wholly owned Koch subsidiary, will make a $48 per share cash tender offer for all shares of Georgia-Pacific.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Georgia-Pacific and Koch. The transaction has an equity value of $13.2 billion and a total enterprise value of $21 billion, including all Georgia-Pacific debt. The price to Georgia-Pacific shareholders represents a premium of 39 percent based on the closing price of Georgia-Pacific common stock on Nov. 11.
Koch has confirmed that Georgia-Pacific will be operated as a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries. Georgia-Pacific will continue to do business worldwide under the Georgia-Pacific name and continue to operate its businesses from its Atlanta headquarters as an independently managed company.
Included in the transaction are all assets of Georgia-Pacific, including its North America and international consumer products segments, as well as its building products, packaging, and paper and bleached board segments.
"This transaction is the most dramatic step yet in Georgia-Pacific's history and its transformation. We are pleased it offers very significant, incremental value to our shareholders, as is warranted by our company's tremendous assets and talented employees," said A.D. "Pete" Correll, Georgia-Pacific chairman and chief executive officer. "Koch's acquisition of Georgia-Pacific will enable us to move into the future in an exciting fashion and continue achieving our financial and operating goals with committed new ownership that is exceptionally strong financially, has a long history of outstanding business success and a dedication to operational excellence."
For more information, visit www.GP.com.
