Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 10 January 2011 – Verso Paper Corporation (NYSE: VRS) announced today that its subsidiaries, Verso Paper Holdings LLC and Verso Paper Inc., are proposing to issue USD 360 million aggregate principal amount of their second priority senior secured notes due 2019 in a private offering that is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The notes will be guaranteed by certain domestic subsidiaries of Verso.

Verso’s subsidiaries that intend to issue and guarantee the notes are the same entities that issued and guaranteed Verso’s existing second lien notes. The notes will be secured by the same collateral as Verso’s existing second lien notes, and the priority of the collateral liens securing the notes will be junior to the collateral liens securing Verso’s senior secured notes and senior secured credit facility.

Verso intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of notes to 1) pay the consideration for the cash tender offer for Verso’s outstanding 9⅛% second priority senior secured fixed rate notes due 2014 (the existing fixed rate second lien notes); 2) redeem any remaining existing fixed rate second lien notes, following the expiration of the cash tender offer, at the applicable redemption price plus accrued and unpaid interest; and 3) pay certain related transaction costs and expenses. The proposed offering of the notes is subject to market and other conditions, and might not occur as described or at all.

The notes are being offered only to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act, and outside the United States only to non-U.S. investors pursuant to Regulation S. The Notes will not initially be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from registration requirements or in a transaction that is not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act or any state securities laws.

Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Verso Paper Corporation is a leading North American producer of coated papers, including coated groundwood and coated freesheet, and supercalendered and specialty products. Verso's paper products are used primarily in media and marketing applications, including magazines, catalogs, and commercial printing applications such as high-end advertising brochures, annual reports, and direct-mail advertising.