Vantive, Canfor announce $196 million in Arkansas expansions, 250 new jobs

Two companies announced nearly $200 million in new investment in Arkansas on Tuesday. Together the projects are expected to add about 250 jobs in Mountain Home and El Dorado.

Kidney care company Vantive said it will spend $100 million to expand its home dialysis manufacturing plant in Mountain Home and add up to 175 jobs. Canfor Southern Pine announced a $96 million investment at its Iron Mountain lumber mill in Union County that will create about 75 jobs. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission released both announcements Tuesday.

Vantive: 175 jobs in Mountain Home

Vantive plans to add up to 175 jobs over four years, with about 75 of them in the first year, according to the AEDC. The company said the new positions will be high-skill technical roles, including engineering jobs. The plant already employs about 800 people.

The money will pay for a new tubing line, new sterilizers, new compressors, a new chemistry lab and other upgrades. The Mountain Home plant makes components used in home dialysis therapies, which the company ships worldwide.

“This commitment builds on a previous $100 million investment that we finished just last year,” Vantive CEO Chris Toth said at the plant, according to the Mountain Home Observer.

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Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders attended the announcement on short notice. “I really like coming to Mountain Home because so far all we’ve done is celebrate good things,” she said.

Baxter International opened the Mountain Home plant more than 60 years ago. Vantive became a standalone company in early 2025, when private equity firm Carlyle bought Baxter’s kidney care business. The plant was split between the two companies, and Vantive took the larger share.

Canfor: 75 jobs in El Dorado

Canfor Southern Pine’s $96 million project at its Iron Mountain facility in El Dorado has three parts: a planer upgrade completed in the second quarter of 2025, a sawmill and log yard modernization expected to finish by the end of this year, and a new transload facility built earlier this year to move lumber between trucks and rail cars. The transload site also serves Canfor’s nearby Urbana sawmill.

The company said the work will more than double Iron Mountain’s annual output to about 220 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine lumber. The mill is expected to employ about 150 full-time workers once the upgrades are complete, including the 75 new jobs at the facility and in logistics.

“With more than $400 million invested in Union County since 2015, we remain deeply committed to Arkansas,” Canfor Southern Pine President Lee Goodloe said.

Canfor bought the Iron Mountain mill in August 2024 when it acquired Arkansas Resolute El Dorado Inc. The mill, the Urbana sawmill and the El Dorado laminating plant make up the company’s Union County hub.

Sanders called agriculture, including forestry, the state’s top industry and thanked Canfor for investing in modern equipment and jobs. Union County Judge Mike Loftin said the new jobs will open more opportunities for the local workforce.

Neither announcement included details on state incentives.