Weyerhaeuser's bid for Willamette approved

SEATTLE - Weyerhaeuser Co.&#39;s hostile takeover bid for timber rival Willamette Industries came to an official end Monday after nearly all of Willamette&#39;s shareholders agreed to Weyerhaeuser&#39;s $6.2 billion offer.<br> <br> Shareholders holding 97 percent of Willamette&#39;s stock agreed to Weyerhaeuser&#39;s offer to buy Willamette stock for $55.50 per share, according to Weyerhaeuser&#39;s preliminary calculations. That makes Portland, Ore.-based Willamette a wholly owned subsidiary of Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser.<br> <br> After more than one year of resistance, Willamette&#39;s board finally agreed to the acquisition last month.<br> <br> Weyerhaeuser also has agreed to assume about $1.7 billion of Willamette&#39;s debt.<br> <br> Willamette will function as a subsidiary for about 30 days, spokesman Bruce Amundson said, until the remaining Willamette shares have been acquired. Then, around mid-March, the process of integrating the two companies will begin.<br> <br> A team of executives will begin working Monday on ways to integrate the two companies, Amundson said, and they hope to have the transition complete within a year. But some major decisions - such as whether to keep Willamette&#39;s downtown Portland headquarters - will be made fairly quickly, he said.<br> <br> Weyerhaeuser has said the merger could save the companies $300 million.<br> <br> The successful tender offer ends a battle that began Nov. 29, 2000, when Weyerhaeuser chairman Steve Rogel announced a hostile takeover and started the bidding at $48 per share.<br> <br> Rogel was a former Willamette employee whom Willamette Chairman William Swindells Jr., the grandson of a company co-founder, had groomed to take over as chief executive officer. But Rogel left in 1997 to become Weyerhaeuser&#39;s chairman.<br> <br> Rogel immediately offered to buy his old company, but Swindells and the Willamette board kept rejecting his overtures. Willamette maintained that the company was worth closer to $60 per share.<br> <br> Swindells and the Willamette board eventually approved the deal Jan. 21 after increasing pressure from investors, who had already elected three board members friendly to the acquisition.<br> <br> Shares of Willamette rose 2 cents to $55.47 in morning trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, where Weyerhaeuser shares gained $1.45 to $60.35. <br> <br>