Nine Dragons Completes Acquisition of Catalyst Mills in Maine, Wisconsin

 

ND Paper LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd., a leading global paper product manufacturer, and the largest containerboard producer in China and Asia. this week announced completion of its acquisition of the Rumford, Me., and Biron, Wis., USA, pulp and paper mills from Catalyst Paper Corp., as previously announced on May 25, 2018. Under terms of the definitive agreement, ND Paper paid a total consideration of $175.0 million. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Nine Dragons' performance in the second half of calendar 2018. 

 

 

 

"We are very excited about the new products, team members, and new business opportunities we can create with this acquisition," said Ken Liu, CEO of ND Paper. "We look forward to working with the teams and local communities in Maine, Wisconsin, and Ohio to expand our industry leadership globally." 

 

The Rumford and Biron mills have a combined manufacturing capacity of nearly 900,000 metric tpy across five paper production and two kraft pulping lines. The mills produce coated one-side, coated freesheet, coated groundwood, and hardwood and softwood market pulp grades for a diverse base of global customers. The employees of Rumford and Biron as well as the associated staff in Dayton, Ohio, will join ND Paper.

 

 ND Paper LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, an environmentally-friendly manufacturer of various types of paper and paper-based products. Nine Dragons is the largest containerboard producer in Asia and is a leading paper product manufacturer globally. It is primarily engaged in the production and sale of a broad variety of packaging paperboard products, including linerboard, high performance corrugating medium, coated duplex board, as well as recycled printing and writing paper and specialty paper. 

Nine Dragons operates nine mills and 39 machines with total annual production capacity of more than over 14 million metric tpy. During the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2017, the company generated revenues of RMB 45.7+ billion ($6.8 billion), operating income of RMB 9.8 billion ($1.4 billion), and net income of RMB 6.8 billion ($1.0 billion). 

Nine Dragons was established in 1995 and listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 3, 2006. As of May 24, 2018, the company’s market capitalization was approximately HK$58.2 billion (S$7.4 billion). More information on Nine Dragons and ND Paper is available online.