It appears that Temple-Inland Corp. will continue to be an independently owned Texas based company for the foreseeable future.  The Temple-Inland Board of Directors has rejected an unsolicited buyout offer of $3.3 billion dollars from International Paper.

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A news release from Temple-Inland says the offer from International Paper is not in the best interests of T-I stockholders, because IP has grossly undervalued Temple-Inland's current financial condition and its prospects as a strong force in the forest products industry.

The Board also thinks the timing of IP's proposal is extremely opportunistic and disadvantageous to Temple-Inland stockholders. Housing markets are at historically low levels that are depressing the value of T-I's building products operations.

The Board says IP is trying to take advantage of this situation by trying to grab the company for a bargain price at a time when there is little or no market value in building products.

The T-I release also says merging with IP would combine the first and third largest producers of corrugated packaging in the country. That would raise anti-trust concerns and guarantee a federal investigation.

Essentially, the Temple-Inland Board is saying, in so many words, that it is insulted by the size of International Paper's offer.  The news release implies the Board might not be as insulted if it were to get a much bigger offer.

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