Plum Creek Timber Co.’s manufacturing facilities in the Flathead Valley won’t see any immediate changes as Weyerhaeuser Co. finalizes its purchase of Plum Creek for $8.44 billion.

“For now it’s business as usual at Plum Creek,” company spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said Monday. “Weyerhaeuser has a long history of wood products manufacturing and more than 30 manufacturing facilities across the U.S. We are excited to be joining forces with a company that has such a strong focus on wood products manufacturing.”

The two timber companies announced the merger Sunday, saying they’ve entered into an agreement “to create the world’s premier timber, land and forest products company” with more than 13 million acres of timberland. The combined company is expected to have an equity value of $23 billion.

The combined earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortization last year were $2.2 billion.

Terms of the agreement have been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction — expected to close late first quarter or early second quarter of 2016 — requires approval from shareholders of both companies.

Following the closing, Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek shareholders will own about 65 percent and 35 percent, respectively, of the combined company’s common stock. Weyerhaeuser intends to execute a $2.5 billion share repurchase shortly after closing, according to a joint press release.

Industry analysts say the merger is an epic consolidation that positions the new company as a “Goliath” in the private timber industry. A senior research analyst for D.A. Davidson & Co. told the Seattle Times, “This couldn’t get any bigger.”

Todd Morgan, director of forest industry and manufacturing research for the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said the bureau will be closely watching the effects of the merger.

“It’s two of the largest timber companies merging to become the biggest by far,” Morgan said. “A lot remains to be seen. It will depend on what Weyerhaeuser decides to do with Plum Creek’s timberlands.”

Plum Creek reorganized as a Real Estate Investment Trust in 1998 and was one of the first large private timber companies to do so, Morgan said. Weyerhaeuser also is organized as a Real Estate Investment Trust.

“They [Weyerhaeuser] will follow Plum Creek’s lead of selling for higher and better use,” Morgan speculated. “That’s what I gleaned from the statement I read.”

The joint press release talks about the new company being in a unique position to “continue to capture higher and better use land values across the combined portfolio.”

Over the past several years Plum Creek has become a land company as much as a timber company. In 2008 it sold 310,000 acres of land in the Swan Valley in a $500 million deal brokered by the Nature Conservancy. In 2014, it sold another 117,000 acres to the Conservancy in the Blackfoot and lower Swan Valleys. Today, the land, in separate parcels, is owned either by the U.S. Forest Service, the state and the Nature Conservancy.

It’s too early to tell how the merger will affect smaller lumber companies such as F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., Morgan said.

“There are some potential pluses and minuses for smaller companies,” he said. “If some Plum Creek mills close, it might make more opportunities for Stoltze or other timber processors ... more mills means more competition. It’s a tight market for timber processors.”

Morgan added that the merger may help Weyerhaeuser be more competitive in the international marketplace.

“It’s an interesting time in the timber industry,” he said. “We’ll measure any changes [from the merger]. I imagine it will take them a while to implement what they’ve already decided.”

Locally, outdoors enthusiasts questioned whether the consolidated company would impose access fees to Plum Creek lands. Budinick said the land-use issue will be among the many decisions to be made in the coming months.

Currently Plum Creek allows free use of its lands with some limitations, but Weyerhaeuser often either leases the lands it owns or charges for permits to recreate on those lands.

During a conference call Monday morning, Weyerhaeuser President Doyle Simons and Plum Creek Chief Executive Officer Rick Holley spoke about the merger.

Simons noted the merged company would now have a strong land base and manufacturing base. While neither executive made comments directly about the future of Montana’s mills, the tone of the conversation seemed positive.

“We’ll be really well-positioned to capitalize on the housing market,” Simons noted.

Simons said the company doesn’t anticipate any regulatory issues with the merger.

Weyehaeuser expects to realize about $100 million in what it termed “synergies” from merger cost savings.

Weyerhaeuser employs 12,800 people and reported revenues of $7.4 billion in 2014, with net income of $1.8 billion. The company, which began in 1900, owns almost 7 million acres of timberland.

Plum Creek has 1,200 employees companywide and reported $1.5 billion in revenue last year. Net income was $214 million. Plum Creek owns more than 6 million acres in 19 states.

Locally, Plum Creek employs about 750 workers in the Flathead Valley, of which 623 work in manufacturing.

Plum Creek’s legacy dates back to 1944 when D.C. Dunham founded Plum Creek Logging Co., named after Plum Creek near Bemidji, Minnesota. Dunham started in the business in the 1930s with an earlier company named D.C. Dunham Lumber Co.

In 1946 Dunham moved his Minnesota lumber business to Columbia Falls, opened the Columbia Falls sawmill and renamed the company Plum Creek Lumber.

Earlier this year Plum Creek said it is investing $10 million in plant improvements at its Northwest Montana manufacturing facilities. The company operates a sawmill, plywood plant and medium-density fiberboard plant in Columbia Falls and a sawmill and plywood plant in Evergreen.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.