by David Flint
Shareholders in the Cowee Forest Products company, the former W.J. Cowee, Inc., report that their shares have been bought up and an agreement and plan of merger drafted to sell the company on December 31, 2008, to Heartwood Forestland, a Real Estate Investment Trust based in North Carolina. According to the agreement, Cowee Forest Products will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Heartwood Forestland. It is not clear at this point whether the transaction is complete and what disposition will be made of the BurnRite firewood business or of the buildings and equipment at the Cowee plant or what impact this has on W.J. Cowee, LLC, the floral products company run by Brian Suslak.
Cowee Forest Products General Manager Tara Fisher said she had no comment to make at this time. Charles Gutermuth, a Director of the company, also had no comment at this time except to say that there are still some loose ends that must be attended to. Brian Suslak could not be reached by press time.
