The Netherlands-registered Paper Excellence BV recently acquired properties from two Canadian pulp and paper companies.

• Tembec said in May that its European subsidiary, Tembec SAS had closed a transaction with Paper Excellence BV for the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Tembec Saint-Gaudens SAS (305 000 tonnes/year hardwood kraft) and Tembec Tarascon SAS (260 000 tonnes/year softwood kraft), two subsidiaries of Tembec SAS. Paper Excellence paid €66 million for the shares and assumed €34 million of debt of the two companies. Total consideration for the transaction is about €100 million ($C133 million), which remains subject to closing working capital adjustments. Tembec will record a gain of about $C20 million for the quarter ending June 2010.

Tembec intends to use the cash proceeds to pay down revolving operating debt and for general corporate purposes. The mills will be known as Fibre Excellence Saint-Gaudens and Fibre Excellence Tarascon.

• In April, Paper Excellence said it had acquired the Mackenzie pulp mill Ð formerly owned by Pope & Talbot and then Worthington Industries, Inc. - in British Columbia for an undisclosed sum. Originally, the mill was expected to resume production of high-quality NBSK pulp in the fall. A report from International Paper Week in Chicago said that it might start in August. There are said to be plans afoot to make the production fully NBSK, rather than continuing with a partial sawdust-based product. It employs over 240 workers and has a capacity of some 235 000 tonnes a year.

Paper Excellence is a Netherland's-based unit of PT Asia Pulp and Paper, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group. The Mackenzie mill is Paper Excellence's second acquisition in Canada. It currently owns and operates a pulp mill in Meadow Lake, SK. www.sinarmasgroup.com

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