Georgia-Pacific Selling Its Timber Co. Unit

A day after agreeing to buy rival paper company Fort James Corp., Georgia-Pacific Corp. agreed to sell its Timber Co. unit to Plum Creek Timber Co. for $3 billion in stock. Seattle-based Plum Creek also will assume $1 billion in Timber Co. debt in a deal that would make it the nation’s second-largest private timberland owner. Under the deal, Timber Co. shareholders are to receive 1.37 shares of Plum Creek stock for each share of Timber Co. Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific said it agreed to buy Fort James for $7.4 billion and would divest other nonstrategic businesses to help offset possible antitrust concerns in the tissue industry. Plum Creek said it intends to retain substantially all Timber Co. employees as well as its Atlanta office. Georgia-Pacific shares fell 89 cents to $25.20 on the New York Stock Exchange. Plum Creek eased 19 cents to $27.19.