BSW Timber has acquired Stirling-based Tilhill Forestry from UPM.
Tilhill Forestry will operate as a subsidiary of BSW Timber with its own operational board. George McRobbie will remain as managing director with Peter Whitfield and Andy Hudson continuing in their current directorship roles. The board will be further strengthened by the addition of Gavin Adkins, Harry Stevens and Richard Scott from BSW.
Established in 1948 and headquartered in Stirling, Scotland, Tilhill Forestry provides professional forestry management and timber harvesting and marketing services to forestry owners through its nationwide network of offices.
The company will continue to focus on building its core strengths of high-quality forest management, while delivering a secure and stable supply of homegrown timber to the market.
Tony Hackney, chief executive, BSW Timber, said: “The acquisition marks the beginning of a strengthened partnership in the forest industry that will deliver quality from beginning to end - from creating new forests through to producing timber end products.
“This significant acquisition creates the largest forest products company in the UK and underscores our ambition to increase the utilisation of UK timber. BSW is a growing enterprise and this acquisition is a key component of BSW’s vision for future development.”
George McRobbie, managing director of Tilhill Forestry, added: “This is an exciting step in the development of Tilhill Forestry, which has grown from sales of £18m, when I joined the company in 2001 to £120m today. This change of ownership will allow the company to continue to grow while maintaining the professional standards that forest owners have come to expect from Tilhill Forestry.”
Kurt Wurster, vice president, RCP and CE Wood Sourcing, UPM Paper ENA, said: “Our close relationship with Tilhill Forestry continues and the company is fully committed to supply wood and biomass for UPM Caledonian and Shotton mills in the UK.”
