Louisiana-Pacific Must Sell Assets

After revamping its management and settling a lawsuit over defective house siding, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. announced Monday it would sell $1 billion in assets to focus on its main building products business.

For sale are about 300,000 acres of California timberland and related lumber businesses, two of three distribution centers in California and a pulp mill in that state.

“We’re going to move to become the premier supplier of home building products,” chairman Mark Suwyn said.

The sales were announced with a disappointing third-quarter loss of $18 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with earnings of $11.2 million, or 11 cents a share, a year ago. The company took a $210 million charge for the quarter to write down some of the assets it plans to sell, and to increase reserves to cover the cost of a $425 million class-action settlement with homeowners to replace defective siding.