Canadian Company Plans To Take Control Of Central Wisconsin Paper Mill

A Canadian company is poised to take control of central Wisconsin’s Biron paper mill, pending approval from regulators.

NewPage Corporation has agreed to sell the Biron mill and its mill in Rumford, Maine, to Catalyst Paper Holdings of British Columbia for $74 million. There are 412 people who currently work at the Biron facility. Catalyst Chief Financial Officer Brian Baarda said the company plans to keep the current team in place.

“Our plans are to run the mill with the people that are obviously there that are running it today, and to integrate it into our management structure,” he said. “So clearly there’s a management team that’s running the mill and we expect that process to continue.”

The Biron sale is part of NewPage’s pending merger with Verso Paper Corporation.

NewPage also employs about 1,000 people at its Wisconsin Rapids mill, and 250 in Stevens Point.