NORTH BEND - It wasn't exactly the size of the Louisiana Purchase, but it was a big deal, nonetheless.

Menasha Forest Products Corp., which owned about 134,000 acres of timberland in Oregon and Washington, merged this month with The Campbell Group, a Portland-based timber investment management organization that oversees and manages more than $1 billion of timberlands in Oregon, Washington, California and North Carolina.

“They bought the stock in the company,” said Scott Starkey, who was once Menasha's vice president, but is now an area manager for the new entity. “They bought it as a whole.”

Campbell purchased the timberlands for around $4,000 per acre, putting the land sale at approximately $536 million, a sum Starkey said is the highest per-acre sale price of timberlands ever in the country. (In contrast, in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the French sold about 530 million acres of land, stretching from the Mississippi River to Wyoming, to the United States for around $23 million.) About half of Menasha's 50 local employees, including CEO Tom Jackman, who was hired in April 2006, lost their jobs in the merger, Starkey said.

“We dropped close to 50 percent of our employees,” said Starkey, who will stay on as the manager of the vast tree farm. “That is not because of poor performance. We had very good, productive employees. Most employees (laid off) were in accounts payable, payroll and log systems, which is overlapping with Campbell's corporate headquarters in Portland. Those were duplicate functions that they didn't need.”

In addition, maintenance and surveying work, once carried out by Menasha employees, now will be contracted out, Starkey said. The remaining workers are mainly operations people, including loggers, road builders, a chief forester and a logging manager

For Menasha's customers and contractors, Starkey said the merger should be virtually transparent.

“Our customers and our contractors shouldn't notice much difference,” Starkey said.

Menasha's sub-businesses, including Menasha Log Co., Menasha Forest Management Services (which focuses on fire-trail building and vegetation control), Menasha Development Corp. and Skookum Reforestation, based in Eugene, were all sold to Campbell, Starkey said.

The deal was finalized April 12, after a majority of the company's 170 shareholders voted in favor of the merger on April 6, Starkey said. The local company will continue to operate under the name Menasha Forest Products Corp. Production levels will not change, Starkey said, noting the company still intends to harvest around � truckloads of logs per day.” As it has for decades, Starkey said he believes the company will continue to be a strong community supporter, noting that The Campbell Group has a similar reputation in and around Portland.

In February, Menasha donated $10,000 to the Coos Bay skatepark project and over the years it's contributed to local theater and other groups, in addition to honoring outstanding teachers with $2,000 no-strings-attached prizes through its Community Service Awards program.

In January, Menasha disclosed it hired the world's leading investment bank, Goldman, Sachs & Co., to analyze the possibility of selling the company. At that time, Starkey characterized the possible sale as an exercise in fiscal prudence to “do what's best for shareholders.”

Timber investment management organizations, or TIMOs, such as The Campbell Group, have rose to prominence within the last decade, Starkey said, due to numerous pension fund and insurance entities recognizing timberlands as a solid, long-term and low-risk investment. TIMOs gather money from investors, acquire timberlands, and manage it for the investors.

Starkey said one stark difference between the way Menasha and Campbell conduct business is that while Menasha focused on acquiring small tracts of timberland, Campbell's strategy is to secure much larger land parcels.

Menasha, a log-selling and tree-growing company that has been headquartered in North Bend, has owned timberlands in Coos County for 100 years. The company was formerly a division of Menasha Corporation based out of Neenah, Wis., but spun off from that company in 2001.

In the past, Menasha owned a pulp and paper mill on the North Spit. But it was sold in the 1980s to Weyerhaeuser, which ultimately closed the mill. Menasha also once operated a plywood mill at 1515 Sheridan Ave., in North Bend, where the main office is now.

- Staff Writer Carl Mickelson covers timber issues for The World. He can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 234; or by e-mailing to cmickelson@theworldlink.com.