Catalyst Paper

Last updated
Catalyst Paper Corporation
Type Subsidiary
Industry Pulp and paper
Founded2000 (as NorskeCanada)
Headquarters Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Key people
Ned Dwyer (CEO)
Les Lederer (Board Chair)
Number of employees
2,800
Parent Paper Excellence Canada
Website Official website

Catalyst Paper Corporation is a pulp and paper company based in Richmond, British Columbia. It operates five pulp mills and paper mills, producing a combined 1.8 million tonnes of paper and 491,000 tonnes of market pulp annually. The mills mostly produce magazine paper and newsprint.

Contents

The company was established as NorskeCanada in 2000, when Norske Skog bought the majority of Fletcher Challenge Canada with Elk Falls Mill and Crofton Mill. The following year Pacifica Papers, operating Port Alberni Mill and Powell River Mill, was merged into the group. A recycling plant in Coquitlam was bought in 2003. The group took the Catalyst name in 2005 and the following year Norske Skog sold their shares. Snowflake Mill was bought in 2008. In the following two years the Elk Falls, Coquitlam and one machine at Crofton were shut down. Snowflake followed suit in 2012. The reason was falling demand for newsprint and increased cost of recycled paper. Catalyst reentered US production in 2015 with the purchase of Biron Mill and Rumford Mill.

History

Background

Port Alberni Mill in 1970 MACMILLAN-BLOEDEL, LTD., A LOG PROCESSING PLANT IN PORT ALBERNY, VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA. NEAR SAN JUAN ISLAND... - NARA - 555165.jpg
Port Alberni Mill in 1970

Catalyst's Canadian mills date back to 1912, when Powell River Mill was established by The Powell River Paper Company. Bloedel, Stewart and Welch established Port Alberni Mill in 1946, [1] merging to create MacMillan Bloedel in 1951. They merged with The Powell River Paper Company in 1960. The mill assets were spun off to create Pacifica Papers in 1998. [2]

Crown Zellerbach Canada established Elk Falls Mill in 1951. British Columbia Forest Products (BCFP), founded in 1946, established Crofton Mill in 1957. [1] New Zealand's Fletcher Challenge acquired Crown Zellerbach Canada in 1981, changing its name to Crown Forest Industries. Six years later it also bought BCFP, changing the Canadian division's name to Fletcher Challenge Canada. [2]

NorskeCanada

NorskeCanada had its origins in the 2000 purchase of Fletcher Challenge Pulp and Paper by Norske Skog. The latter was not interested in entering the North American market, but Fletcher Challenge had offered its assets as an all or nothing deal. [3] This included its 50.8 percent share in Fletcher Challenge Canada, which owned Elk Falls Mill and Crofton Mill. [4] The annual meeting in Fletcher Challenge Canada approved with 99.97 percent of the votes on 26 October 2000 to take the name Norske Skog Canada Ltd. [5] At the time the company had NOK 8 billion in cash which it paid in dividends to the owners. [4]

Powell River Mill Catalyst Paper Mill (9360080781).jpg
Powell River Mill

Norske Skog considered both selling its shares in NorskeCanada or developing the company further. The latter was chosen, resulting in NorskeCanada purchasing Pacifica Papers on 27 August 2001, giving it control over Port Alberni Mill and Powell River Mill. Two months previously Pacifica Papers had sold Mackenzie Mill. The Pacifica Papers acquisition was funded through the issuing of new shares, diluting Norske Skog's ownership to 36.1%. More new shares were issued in May 2002, reducing Norske Skog's ownership further to 30.6%. [4]

Unlike the rest of the group, Norske Skog lacked the direct control over the assets in Canada. CEO Russ Horner was part of Norske Skog's corporate executive board until the share was diluted. From then the two companies were legally regarded as competitors and the two were not allowed to cooperate closely, for instance through joint sales offices. [4]

Crofton Mill Croftonmill.jpg
Crofton Mill

The company acquired Newtech Recycling of Coquitlam in December 2003. Western Canada's first and largest paper recycling plant was bought to vertically integrate a source of deinked paper. [2] The acquisition was partially paid in cash, partially in shares. [6] The site handled 163,000 tonnes of old newsprint from British Columbia and Alberta, as well as more remote sources, predominantly Minnesota and Kansas City, shipped by train to Coquitlam. Once deinked, the pulp was sent by barge to Crofton Mill. [7]

By 2005 NorskeCanada had operated with a deficit in 13 of 19 quarters, and Norske Skog started considering its options for the company. Pöyry was hired to consider the operations, and concluded that the mills were not competitive for export to Asia, a prime target market for Norske Skog. The paper particularly emphasized inefficient mill designs which led to higher operating costs. [8] The first step was taken in October 2005, when the general meeting approved the new name, Catalyst Paper, to signal that the group was leaving Norske Skog. [2] The Norwegian group sold its 29.4 percent of Catalyst for $186 million in a bought deal on 30 January 2006. [8] At the time Catalyst's four mills made it North America's fourth-largest producer of printing papers, with an annual production of two million tonnes of paper and half a million tonnes of kraft pulp. [6]

Train on the Apache Railway used to transport old newsprint and coal to and newsprint from the Snowflake Mill AZ 2010 878xxRP - Flickr - drewj1946.jpg
Train on the Apache Railway used to transport old newsprint and coal to and newsprint from the Snowflake Mill

Internationalization

Catalyst's first US investment was Snowflake Mill, which was acquired in 2008. [2] Catalyst took steps to upgrade the mill, including investments to allow the plant to produce finer grades of paper. [9] Snowflake was an early user of deinking pulp and was amongst the first in the US to accept single-source recycling materials. This moves some of the recycling work from the recyclers, thus cutting their costs, in exchange for a stronger market position and lower raw prices. However, Snowflake Mill was stuck with a raw product flow which contain contaminants, such as plastic and metals. [10]

Elk Fall Mills was shut down on 30 November 2008. In addition to falling demand for newsprint, the mill increasingly failed to secure sufficient virgin fiber, as the mill used sawdust rather than woodchips as its source material. The 2008 recession caused a decline in demand for building materials, causing at least three of the main sawdust suppliers to Elk Fall Mill to shut down. This was worsened by increasing power prices and a strengthening of the Canadian dollar. [11]

After 2005 China started buying large quantities of old newsprint from North America, particularly from the West Coast. In addition to causing a shortage in recycled paper, the exports caused a steep increase in the prices. [12] Combined with reduced demand for newsprint, Catalyst decided to curtail production at Paper Machine 1 from 23 December 2009. The following year the corporation decided to close the Coquitlam plant and permanently terminate production at Paper Machine 1 in Crofton. [13]

Rumford Mill is situated on the Androscoggin River Rumford Paper Mill 2.JPG
Rumford Mill is situated on the Androscoggin River

From 2008 Snowflake encountered a steadily more competitive environment. Prices of recycled fibers rose with increased demand from Chinese importers. Slack at quality controlling received papers at Chinese mills allowed for the export of steadily more contaminated wastes, which again affected the quality and prices for Snowflake. This led to higher prices and lower quality for Snowflake Mill. [10] The price of old newsprint increased by 163% from 2009 to 2012. . The mill was therefore permanently closed on 30 September 2012, after having provided a negative EBIDTA every year since 2009. [9]

As part of the Verso Corporation 2015 acquisition of NewPage, US authorities required two mills to be sold. Catalyst therefore bought Biron Mill in Biron, Wisconsin, and Rumford Mill in Rumford, Maine. Both produce coated paper, allowing Catalyst to expand its paper portfolio into finer grades. The mills were bought for US$62 million. [14] The deal led to a 65% increase in Catalyst's production. [15]

In 2017, Catalyst's three major shareholders bought out the remaining shareholders, leading to the delisting of the company from the Toronto Stock Exchange. [16]

On June 29, 2018, Catalyst sold Rumford Mill in Rumford, Mai n and Biron Mill in Biron, WI along with the company's US operations center in Dayton, Ohio to Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited (ND Paper)

On October 9, 2018, Catalyst announced that Paper Excellence entered into an agreement to purchase all shares of Catalyst Paper.

Operations

Catalyst Paper Corporation is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia. It has an annual production of 1.8 million tonnes of paper and 491,000 tonnes of market pulp. It has an annualized sales of $2.0 billion per year. [17]

Mills

List of pulp and paper mills
MillLocationPMsProductionPeriodRef
Biron Biron, Wisconsin, United States2 Coated groundwood paper (335,000 t)2015–18 [18]
Coquitlam Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada0 Deinking (163,000 t)2003–10 [7]
Crofton Crofton, British Columbia, Canada2 Newsprint (350,000 t)
NBSK (377,000 t)		2000– [19]
Elk Falls Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada2 Newsprint (373,000 t)
Uncoated fine paper (153,000 t)		2000–08 [20]
Port Alberni Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada2 Coated paper (224,000 t)
Directory paper (116,000 t)		2001– [21]
Powell River Powell River, British Columbia, Canada2 Uncoated fine paper (350,000 t)2001– 20 [22]
Rumford Rumford, Maine, United States3 Coated groundwood paper (438,000 t)2015–18 [23]
Snowflake Snowflake, Arizona, United States2 Newsprint (289,000 t)
Uncoated fine paper (48,000 t)		2008–12 [18]

Related Research Articles

Norske Skog ASA, formerly Norske Skogindustrier ASA, which translates as Norwegian Forest Industries, is a Norwegian pulp and paper company established in 1962. The company has long been one of the world's leading manufacturers of newsprint and magazine paper. Due to a declining market for publication paper, the company has increasingly focused on other uses of timber and recycled paper, such as packaging. The company is headquartered in Norway and has factories in five countries and an annual production of approximately 2 million tonnes of paper (2020).

Norske Skog Skogn AS is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in Levanger, Norway, which produces newsprint. Situated on the Fiborgtangen peninsula in Skogn, the mill has three paper machines with a total annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. Pulp is produced both from virgin fibers at an on-site thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill and from recycled paper at a deinking (DIP) mill. Part of Norske Skog, it is the sole remaining newsprint mill in Norway.

Norske Skog Saugbrugs AS is a pulp mill and paper mill located in Halden, Norway, which produces supercalender (SC) magazine paper. Located in the river Tista in Tistedalen, the mill produces 550,000 tonnes per year in three paper machines. Pulp is produced both from virgin fibers at an on-site thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill. Part of Norske Skog, it is the sole remaining magazine mill in Norway.

Norske Skog Union was a paper mill located in Skien in Norway. The mill was part of the Norske Skog Corporation and opened in 1873 with the name Union Co. The mill had two paper machines that produced 240,000 tonnes of newsprint and book paper. It was closed down in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parenco</span>

Parenco B.V. is a paper mill located in Renkum, Netherlands, on the shore of the Rhine. The mill was established on the site of an older mill in 1912 by Van Gelder & Zonen. The company operates two paper machines PM1 and PM2. PM1 has a capacity of 265,000 tonnes per year and is used for the production of so-called SC-B paper for magazines and advertising brochures. The other machine, PM2, was idled in 2009 by its then owner due to the declining demand of newsprint paper. This machine will be converted and from mid-2016 will produce about 385,000 tons of packaging paper, intended for the production of corrugated board.

Australian Newsprint Mills (ANM) was an Australian newsprint manufacturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited</span> Paper manufacturing company in Mainland China

Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, operating as ND Paper in the United States is a publicly listed paper manufacturing company in Mainland China, engaging in the manufacturing of containerboard products which include linerboard, duplex board as well as pulp. Its CEO and largest shareholder is Mrs. Zhang Yin.

The Tasman Mill site is a pulp and paper mill located on Fletcher Avenue just outside the town of Kawerau in New Zealand. The Tasman Mill site is the largest single employer in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region. Three pulp or paper companies previously operated in Kawerau: Norske Skog operated the mechanical pulp mill and newsprint paper mill; Oji Fibre Solutions, formerly Carter Holt Harvey, operated the kraft pulp mill; and SCA who manufacture tissue and base paper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Alberni Mill</span>

Port Alberni Mill is a paper mill located in the Canadian town of Port Alberni, British Columbia, on the edge of the Alberni Inlet. Part of Paper Excellence, the mill has two paper machines which produce 336,000 tonnes. Port Alberni Mill produces directory, lightweight coated paper and specialty papers. The mill's papers are used in telephone directories, catalogues, magazines, brochures, inserts, flyers and food grade. The mill has 310 employees as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crofton Mill</span> Paper mill in British Columbia, Canada

Crofton Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill located in the Vancouver Island town of Crofton, British Columbia. The mill has 3 paper machines and 2 pulp machines, which produce 349,000 tonnes of newsprint and directory paper, and 355,000 tonnes of northern bleached softwood kraft.

Elk Falls Mill was a pulp mill and paper mill located in the Canadian town of Campbell River, British Columbia, operating between 1952 and 2010. At the end of its life, the mill had three paper machines, with a combined annual production of 373,000 tonnes of newsprint and 153,000 tonnes specialized papers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell River Mill</span>

Powell River Mill was a pulp mill and paper mill located in the Canadian town of Powell River, British Columbia. Part of Catalyst Paper, the mill has three paper machines which produce 469,000 tonnes of newsprint and uncoated fine paper. The mill had 441 employees as of 2014.

Snowflake Mill was a pulp mill and paper mill located in the US town of Snowflake, Arizona. The mill had two paper machines which produced 339,000 tonnes of newsprint and uncoated fine paper. It sourced its fiber from two deinking pulp lines. The mill had 293 employees as of 2014. Transport to and from the mill was carried out on the Apache Railway.

Jeonju Paper Corporation, trading as Jeonju Paper, is a South Korean pulp and paper company. Headquartered in Seoul, it operates Jeonju Mill and Cheongwon Mill, with a combined 1,030,000 tonnes annual production of paper, mostly newsprint. The company is owned by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and Shinhan Private Equity. The company was established as the South Korean operating subsidiary of PanAsia Paper on 1 February 1999, PanAsia Paper Korea. Ownership passed to Norske Skog in 2005, with the company becoming Norske Skog Korea. They sold the company to the current owners in 2008, after which the current name was adopted.

Cheongwon Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in Cheongju, South Korea. Owned by Jeonju Paper, the mill sources its fiber from deinking to feed a single paper machine producing newsprint. PM1 has an annual production of 183,000 tonnes, featuring a trimmed width of 6,380 millimeters (251 in) and a production rate of 1,300 meters (4,300 ft) per minute.

Jeonju Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in Jeonju, South Korea. Owned by Jeonju Paper, the mill produces 850,000 tonnes of newsprint and magazine paper annually. The mill sources fibers both from virgin wood, including sawmill residue, as well as from deinking. The mill has four paper machines. The mill has the third-largest production capacity for newsprint in the world and the largest deinking mill in the world.

Asia Honour Paper Industries (M) Sdn. Bhd., formerly known as Malaysian Newsprint Industries Sdn. Bhd., is a pulp and paper company based in Malaysia. It operates a single pulp mill and paper mill in Mentakab, Pahang, which produces an annual 280,000 tonnes of newsprint sourced entirely from deinked pulp from recycled paper. In 2017, MNI was the largest supplier for Media Chinese International Ltd, which owns local mandarin newspapers such as Sin Chew Daily and Nanyang Siang Pau.

Singburi Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in Sing Buri, Thailand. Owned by the CAS Group, the mill sources its fiber from deinking to feed a single paper machine producing newsprint. PM1 has an annual production of 125,000 tonnes. The mill had 239 employees in 2013, and was the sole manufacturer of newsprint in Thailand, approximately producing the entire country's consumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norske Skog Walsum</span>

Norske Skog Walsum is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in the Duisburg neighborhood of Walsum, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The mill starts operations in 1962, established by Haindl and owned by Norske Skog from 2001. Since the 1990s the mill had two paper machines producing lightweight coated paper, a type of magazine paper. Both paper machines have a trimmed width of 725 centimeters (285 in). PM4 has an annual production of 225,000 tonnes, PM10 has 215,000 tonnes. The mill used as its source one-third thermomechanical pulp, one-third kraft pulp and one-third coating. The mill is situated on the Rhine. Until production curtailment in 2013, the mill employed 460 people.

Trading as Norske Skog Boyer, the Boyer Mill is a pulp and paper mill located in Boyer, Tasmania, Australia. Constructed in 1941 by Australian Newsprint Mills, the mill was the first producer of newsprint paper in Australasia. Producing 260,000 tonnes of product in 2020, the mill is currently Australia's only manufacturer of newsprint and magazine-grade paper. The mill's operations make a substantial contribution to Tasmania's gross state product, estimated at $390 million. Boyer Mill has been owned and operated by the Norwegian pulp and paper company Norske Skog since 2000.

References

  1. 1 2 Christie, Doug (1 January 2004). "Looking West: Historical Overview of the Industry in BC". Pulp and Paper Canada. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Our history: Over a century of papermaking" (PDF). Catalyst Paper. January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Pollen: 264
  4. 1 2 3 4 Pollen: 266
  5. ↑ Pollen: 265
  6. 1 2 Pollen: 301
  7. 1 2 Strandberg, Diane (25 January 2006). "The Business of Recycling — Part 2 — Paper Power" (PDF). Tri-City News . p. 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 October 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 Pollen: 302
  9. 1 2 "Catalyst to permanently close Snowflake recycle paper mill". Catalyst Paper. 2012. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  10. 1 2 Svaldi, Aldo (30 September 2012). "Closure of Arizona paper mill leaves Colorado recyclers scrambling". The Denver Post . Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  11. ↑ Hamilton, G. (9 February 2007). "Catalyst permanently shuts down Elk Falls pulp mill". Vancouver Sun . Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "China scoops up recycled paper". The Ottawa Citizen . 9 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  13. ↑ "Catalyst idles Crofton paper machine, Coquitlam de-inking plant". Catalyst Paper. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Fishell, Darren (7 January 2015). "Verso completes NewPage buy; Catalyst gets Rumford mill and another for $62.4 million". Bangor Daily News . Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Lawder, Melanie (31 October 2014). "NewPage selling Biron paper mill to Canadian company". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune . Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "Catalyst Paper goes dark". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  17. ↑ "Company at a Glance". Catalyst Paper. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Biron Mill". Catalyst Paper. 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Our Mills: Crofton, BC" (PDF). Catalyst Paper. May 2014. Archived from the original on 8 November 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Our Mills: Elk Falls, BC" (PDF). Catalyst Paper. May 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Our Mills: Port Alberni, BC" (PDF). Catalyst Paper. May 2014. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "Our Mills: Powell River, BC" (PDF). Catalyst Paper. May 2014. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  23. ↑ "Rumford Mill". Catalyst Paper. 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.

Bibliography

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