Pacific Lumber May Be On The Ropes - SF Chronicle

[hatrack]

"Maxxam Inc.'s Pacific Lumber Co., long a target for environmentalists, could be forced to file for bankruptcy if it can't come to terms with its creditors.

Maxxam, a Houston lumber company that also has real estate and race track operations, reported a $14.2 million first-quarter loss on Thursday and said its lumber subsidiaries may also cut jobs or sell assets to raise cash to help pay its debts.

Scotia Pacific Co., an arm of Maxxam's Pacific Lumber Co., which owns Northern California timberlands, faces default if it can't make interest payments due July 20. If the unit is unable to renegotiate the terms of its debt by then, a bankruptcy filing could come as early as this summer, according to Maxxam spokesman Ron Kurtz.

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Sami Yassa, senior forestry scientist for San Francisco's Natural Resources Defense Council, said many timber companies are thriving under the state's logging regulations because they have "operated sustainably over the long term." "Pacific Lumber has liquidated its forest resources, and now they are suffering the consequences," he said. "When a company like Pacific Lumber does not practice forestry sustainably, they will suffer economically." It is unclear what could happen to Maxxam if its lumber operations, which amount to more than half its revenues, slide into bankruptcy."

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/13/BUG1HCO89S1.DTL

[EVDebs]

1. The Murphy family should never have sold the operation.

They ran it like a well oiled machine, with sustainable harvesting and a 'company town' that provided every amenity to its employees. Mother nature had that family and company working together hand in hand.

Then came Hurwitz and the looting began in earnest. Tripled the cut and raided the employee benefits funds. What a guy.

[kineneb]

2. Hurwitz is an ass, and so is Maxxam

All Hurwiz wanted to do is pay off his junk bonds and get out. He and the co. were not interested in long term profits or sustainablity. All one had to do to figure this out is look at their treatment of the forests and the people who protested the logging. Pepper spray rubbed in the eyes, anyone??