Security-paper manufacturer Fortress Paper Ltd., Vancouver, BC, completed a $C40-million initial public offering of five million shares at $C8 each in June.

The company, headed by president and CEO Chadwick Wasilenkoff, owns two mills: wallpaper producer Dresden Papier GmbH in Germany; security paper producer Landqart AG in Switzerland. Both mills were bought from Mercer International, also based
in Vancouver, in mid-2006. Jimmy S.H. Lee, Mercer’s chairman, president and CEO is a Fortress director.

Dresden has one Fourdrinier machine with a capacity of 36,000 tonnes/year using synthetic and natural wood fibers as its furnish. Landqart has two machines, a Fourdrinier and a cylinder mould; its capacity ranges between 12,000 and 22,000 tonnes/year depending on the product mix. The furnish is cotton and wood pulp.

Fortress has a well-established place in the international security paper market. It makes banknote papers and specialties used for visas, passports and cheques. According to a report in the Vancouver Sun, Wasilenko hopes to take over production of Canada’s currency when the present contract with another European producer ends. A recent Fortress innovation is the LQard® biometric passport which has an embedded RFID chip.

www.fortresspaper.com. PI

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