Recent Articles

Interfor Corp. said Aug. 11 it will spend $30 million to expand its sawmill in Summerville, just months acquiring the facility from WestRock Co.

John Begley, who has been the CEO of Columbia Pulp LLC throughout the local private company's eight-year existence here, announced his retirement effective Sept. 3.

Canfor opened its Houston mill August 9, following a two-week shutdown caused by rail system bottlenecks and other problems in southern B.C. owing to wildfire outbreaks there.

Metsä Group's innovation company Metsä Spring Ltd has made an equity investment in Innomost Ltd, a startup converting forest industry side streams into high-value bioactive products.

Saica Pack successfully manufactured more than 1 million square meters worth of corrugated cardboard at its Thrapston facility near Northampton, the UK.

Klabin started construction on its new terminal on the quay of the Port of Paranaguá in Brazil. In this phase, the project is expected to create 180 new jobs. Once the terminal starts commercial operations, it will require around 170 direct and indirect employees.

The board of directors for Verso Corp. has formed a special committee to evaluate an offer to purchase the company.

The name Sylvamo speaks to the company's connection to trees and highlights its role as a steward of sustainable forests. Sylvamo combines the Latin words for forest, "silva," and love, "amo." Company leaders translate this unique combination as "love of forests."

Klabin has announced investments of R$ 40 million ($8 million) in the technology employed to apply dispersible barrier in the paperboard used to produce diverse types of packaging present in everyday life.

Interfor Corp. will reopen an idled sawmill in southwestern Louisiana, creating 170 jobs at the facility.

The Kwidzyn business has approximately 2,300 employees with an annual capacity to produce 740,000 metric tons of folding boxboard, uncoated freesheet, specialty kraft papers, and market pulp on four machines.

A Packaging Corporation of America employee was killed Thursday afternoon, July 29, in a workplace incident, the Hardin County Sheriff's Department reports.

Charles Swanson, an architect for the project, said the facility would be one of the two largest facilities of its kind in North America. Atlantic Packaging is building a similar facility in Canada.

The Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission announced Tuesday the expansion of Pratt Industries, resulting in more than $18 million in capital investment and the creation of 30 new jobs.

The mills Eerbeek and Baiersbronn together have an annual capacity of about 245kt of virgin fiber-based cartonboard (FBB) produced on two board machines and employ approximately 400 people. Sales reached Euro 195 million in 2020.

Platinum Equity announced that it has completed the acquisition of McGraw Hill, a global leader in educational content and digital platforms, for a purchase price of approximately $4.5 billion.

Interfor is expecting production disruptions at its British Columbia Interior, Canada, sawmills during the 3Q 2021 due to the ongoing impacts of wildfires and other factors on log supply.

The Mayr-Melnhof Group (MM) has completed the acquisition of Kotkamills, Finland, which was agreed in December 2020, after receiving approval from all relevant competition authorities. Through the acquisition, MM strengthens its position in the virgin fiber cartonboard (FBB) market with an attractive range of barrier cartonboard solutions that can replace PE (polyethylene) -coated cartonboard.

Novolex®, a leader in packaging choice, innovation and sustainability, has acquired Vegware, a rapidly growing international provider of compostable foodservice packaging headquartered in Edinburgh, U.K. Vegware's teams in both the U.K. and U.S. are expected to join the Novolex family. The Vegware brand will remain intact as part of Novolex's Eco-Products portfolio of brands and will continue to sell its products under the Vegware label.

CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. announced its Triple T joint venture has reached a definitive agreement with a client of the Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc., a Manulife Investment Management company, to sell 301,000 acres of prime East Texas timberlands for approximately $498 million in cash, or approximately $1,656 per acre.

Amcor plans to invest over $10 million in MSU's School of Packaging - the largest investment in the history of the university's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), under which the School of Packaging sits.

Mercer International Inc. said it is very, very pleased to announce that it received approval from the applicable Bankruptcy Court for a sales Order approving the acquisition by its wholly-owned subsidiary of a state-of-the-art CLT manufacturing facility located at Spokane, Washington (the "Facility") for a price of $50 million, subject to customary adjustments. The closing of the sale is scheduled to occur shortly.

Ladies and gentlemen, the first class of inductees to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wisconsin was inducted more than two decades ago in 1995, and today, close to 150 papermaking innovators and legends have been enshrined. This month, we profile the late Jasper Mardon, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010

The PM40 closed Friday, 13 August 2021, at 4353.

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In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Louisiana Pacific and Veritiv.