Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. (ACI), Montreal, QC, and Bowater Inc., Greenville, SC, reached an agreement in October with the United States Department of Justice that will allow the completion of the proposed combination of the two companies into AbitibiBowater Inc. Bowater Canada Inc., a public company subsidiary of Bowater, changed its name to AbitibiBowater Canada Inc.

The companies will divest ACI's 375,000-tonne/y newsprint mill in Snowflake, AZ.

In addition to selling Snowflake, AbitibiBowater said it is to reduce its newsprint and commercial printing papers capacity by about 1 million tonnes in 1Q08 - about 600,000 tonnes of newsprint, 400,000 tonnes of printing papers and 500 million board feet of lumber. Permanent closures include: Belgo, Shawinigan, QC; Dalhousie, NB; the previously idled mills in Fort William, Thunder Bay, ON, and Lufkin, TX. Indefinitely idled will be Donnacona, QC, and Mackenzie, BC, as well as two sawmills associated with the latter mill.

There are pulp, paper and wood product facilities in the US, Canada, the UK and South Korea. AbitibiBowater will be among the world's largest recyclers of newspapers and magazines, and will have more third-party certified sustainable forestland than any other company in the world. Shares will trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

www.abitibiconsolidated.com, www.bowater.com, www.abitibibowater.com. PI

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