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NEWS BRIEFS
Vancouver, BC-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd said it will permanently close its Eurocan paper mill in Kitimat, BC, on Jan 31, 2010. The unprofitable operation, situated 640 km north of Vancouver on the BC coast makes about 450 000 tonnes/year of linerboard (75% of capacity) and kraft paper (25%). Difficulty in obtaining residual sawmill-chips and a drop of about 40% in the net selling price of its products are blamed for the action. www.westfraser.com Sappi intends to close its Usutu Pulp Co. mill and restructure its forestry business in Swaziland in response to adverse market conditions and forest fire damage. The fires of August 2008 destroyed 40% of the Usutu timber crop and Sappi says the mill is no longer sustainable. Closure is planned for 31 January 2010. With the closure, Sappi would also exit the unbleached softwood flash-dried pulp market served by the mill which has a capacity of 190 000 tonnes annually. Sappi hopes to return the Usutu forests to profitability: This could include introducing new investors. Usutu directly employs about 600 people. www.sappi.com Tembec has put its Pine Falls newsprint mill up for sale. The 200 000- tonne/year Manitoba operation had been idle since September 1, 2009, because of a labor dispute. While the company has offered to end the lock-out, it says it will not re-start operations and hopes to sell the mill. Overseas, Tembec said it may sell its Tarascon and St. Gaudens kraft pulp mills in France. The specialty pulp mill in Tartas is not for sale.www.tembec.com According to Tissue World, Georgia-Pacific LLC will shut down a tissue machine and five converting lines at its Day Street mill in Green Bay, WI, and another tissue machine at its Wauna mill in Oregon. About 150 jobs out of 600 will be permanently lost in Wisconsin, where the closure is said to be permanent. In Oregon, the machine has been mothballed, leading to the loss of 15 jobs. In Green Bay, where G-P has invested in the mill over recent years, the plant to be shut is outdated and no longer economic. In Oregon, orders are inadequate to keep all the mill's machines operating. PM 2, which is to be shut, has a capacity of over 50,000 tons/yr, close to 20% of the mill's total tonnage. A recent fire at the Day Street mill caused millions of dollars worth of damage, according to the local fire department. www.gp.com Appleton Paper sold its C&H Packaging Co., Inc. unit based in Merrill, WI, to The Interflex Group, a flexible packaging company with operations in North America, The UK and Brazil. Interflex, based in Wilkesboro, NC, will add eight- and 10-color printing, lamination and pouch-making capacity at Merrill. No price was disclosed. www.interflexgroup.com Cellu-Tissue Holdings Inc., a producer of private label and value retail tissue products, announced terms for its IPO on Jan 8, 2010. The Alpharetta, GA-based company plans to raise $125 million by offering 7.8 million shares at a price range of $15-$17. At the mid-point of the proposed range, Cellu Tissue will command a market value of $306 million. The company, which was founded in 1984 and booked $528 million in sales over the last 12 months, plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol CLU. Net proceeds will be used to repay $29 million of existing debt. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are the lead underwriters. www.cellutissue.com |
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