Recent Articles

Stockholders of Domtar Corporation today approved a proposal to adopt a business combination with Paper Excellence B.V. whereby Karta Halten B.V., an affiliate of Paper Excellence, will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Domtar common stock for $55.50 per share in cash pursuant to an agreement and plan of merger dated May 10, 2021 (the "Merger").

BillerudKorsnäs is in a process with the aim of divesting the paper mill in Beetham, UK. The process is ongoing and no binding agreement to divest the mill has yet been entered into. Since BillerudKorsnäs' machine glazed (MG) paper business has primarily been focused in Skärblacka, the strategic importance of Beetham to the rest of the group has been reduced.

CompanyBox, the Charlotte-based corrugated packaging company, reported a significant expansion in capacity and nationwide corrugated digital print solutions with the multi-million dollar investment in a second HP C500 press. The purchase adds to its robust suite of digital equipment and further strengthens capabilities for all sizes of business.

Pactiv Evergreen on July 28, 2021 announced that the Company has made the difficult decision to exit the coated groundwood paper business. As a result, the Company will permanently cease production of coated groundwood paper at its Pine Bluff, AR location. The Company will continue to strategically invest in the Pine Bluff mill, which will remain an essential facility in the Pactiv Evergreen operations network, serving the fiber-based beverage packaging market.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, Hunt Forest Products co-owner James D. Hunt and Tolko President and CEO Brad Thorlakson announced that the companies will develop a new $240 million sawmill in Bienville Parish. Resulting from the collaboration of these two companies, the joint venture company will create 130 direct new jobs, with an average salary of $57,400, plus benefits.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö will restart one of its saturator in its Turin plant in Italy to support strong demand for high performance filtration media.

Metsä Board announced an investment of Euro 210 million in increasing folding boxboard capacity at its Husum mill in Sweden. The company is responding to growing demand for sustainably produced packaging materials that support the circular economy.

International Paper subsidiary Sylvamo has chosen an East Memphis headquarters after being awarded a jobs Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes inventive by the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County.

A newly formed company, Roaring Spring Park, LLC, has just closed on the facility and has been actively involved in identifying and supporting potential uses for the plant and the site, including restarting the paper mill and/or repurposing the assets.

The acquisition will increase Glatfelter's diversification into attractive and complementary segments serving the growing wipes, healthcare and hygiene categories.

Rayonier Inc. has sold the rights to manage two timber funds (Fund III and Fund IV) that were previously managed by its Olympic Resource Management (ORM) subsidiary, as well as its co-investment stake in both funds, to BTG Pactual's Timberland Investment Group (TIG) for an aggregate purchase price prior to closing costs of $35.9 million. The transaction will be reflected in third quarter financial results.

Stora Enso's pilot facility for producing bio-based carbon materials from lignin has started operations. This follows the company's EUR 10 million investment announced in 2019. Pilot production of Lignode® by Stora Enso, wood-based carbon for batteries, is currently being ramped up. Applications include electric vehicles and consumer electronics as well as large-scale energy storage systems.

The Vancouver-based lumber producer says about 115 million board feet of capacity will be reduced during the third quarter due to significant supply chain challenges and a transportation backlog.

The civil unrest referenced in our market update of 14th July appears to be under control. Intensive work by government agencies and business is focused on ensuring that supply chain disruptions are resolved, and people can move safely to and from work. Sappi's employees at the affected mills were able to return to work on Monday 19th July.

Pregis, a leading global manufacturer of protective packaging, is announcing a $80 million investment in a new, state-of-the-art blown film extrusion facility in Anderson, South Carolina.

Avery Dennison announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Vestcom, a privately held market-leading provider of pricing and branded labeling solutions at the shelf-edge for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, for $1.45 billion in a cash transaction, subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments.

Smurfit Kappa says it is buying Verzuolo, a containerboard business in northern Italy, for a cash consideration of €360 million. The Verzuolo mill owned by the Burgo Group, is situated close to the port of Savona in the northwest of Italy. The PM9 machine was newly constructed in 2002 and converted into a 600,000 tonne capacity recycled containerboard machine in 2019.

Swedish forestry group Södra's three pulp mills in Värö, Mörrum, and Mönsterås, Sweden, are jointly making a major investment in one thousand wireless Airius vibration sensors with temperature measurement that transfer vibration data via the cellular network.

The Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 2 is bringing attention to issues at the Paper Excellence Canada Catalyst Crofton mill it says have plagued the membership for quite some time.

Sonae Arauco inaugurated a distribution centre (DC) for the North East Europe (NEE) region. Shorter delivery times and greater flexibility offer improved planning reliability for customers. This has been made possible by restructuring the logistics processes and, last but not least, the new Sonae Arauco Distribution Centre.

For sure, your job as CEO just got tougher, and pulling out the employee handbook from 2019 seems so, well, so 2019.

The PM40 closed Friday, 30 July 2021, at 4187.

Get the latest PM40 updates by listening to the weekly Nips show and the PM40 Daily Show on Pulp & Paper Radio International.

The PM40 closed 30 July 2021 up 75.7% from the 31 July 2020 level.

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Stora Enso and Greif.

Nova Scotia's three main political party leaders might not agree on much, but there's one issue on which they share the same view: if the owners of the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County get approval to reopen the beleaguered site, they should not count on financial assistance from the next provincial government.