ATLANTA, Oct. 8 - The Timber Company and Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. completed their previously announced merger on Oct. 6. The Timber Company formerly was a separate operating groupof Georgia-Pacific Corp. Under terms of the merger, former shareholders of The Timber Company are entitled to receive 1.37 shares of Plum Creek common stock for each share of The Timber Company common stock previously held. Details and procedures for surrendering Timber Company stock certificates in order to receive Plum Creek shares will be mailed directly to Timber Company shareholders. "This merger concludes a major strategic initiative by Georgia-Pacific to unlock the value of our timberlands by focusing on deriving the greatest value out of each tree we owned,'' said A.D. "Pete'' Correll, chairman and chief executive officer of Georgia-Pacific. "We succeeded by operating a company that generated consistent earnings and outstanding shareholder returns since its formation in late 1997,'' Correll said. "We proved there was additional value locked in our forests, and we delivered that value to our shareholders. "This successful merger demonstrates further progress in the ongoing restructuring of our assets toward value-added forest products, and results in two highly focused, separate companies,'' he concluded. Georgia-Pacific is filing to terminate registration of The Timber Company common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission and applying to de-list The Timber Company common stock from the New York Stock Exchange. Plum Creek, a real estate investment trust, is one of the largest land owners in the nation, with more than 7.8 million acres in every significant timber-growing region of the United States and nine wood product mills in the Northwest.