Paper Excellence – Crofton Curtailment Announcement

Fedrigoni Group has agreed yet another buy, which will give the business a dominant presence in the worldwide market for premium papers for wine and spirits. The acquisitive Italian group has signed an agreement with Papeterie Zuber Rieder to take over the business, subject to consultation with the French firm’s works council. Papeterie Zuber Rieder was founded in 1881. It employs 130 staff and since the turn of the century has focused its offering on specialty papers for labels, packaging and perfumed cards. Its range includes food grade papers and 'ice bucket proof' labels. Fedrigoni said the buy would create “the first global player in premium papers for wines and spirits”, and Zuber Rieder would benefit from its production capabilities and international network.

The Paper Excellence Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Domtar Corporation, a global diversified manufacturer of pulp and specialty, printing, writing, and packaging papers, and Resolute Forest Products Inc., a global forest products company, jointly announced that the Canadian Commissioner of Competition has entered into a consent agreement regarding the parties' business combination. Once the combination has been finalized, Domtar will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Resolute stock for $20.50 per share and one contingent value right tied to potential duty deposit refunds of up to $500 million. The consent agreement filed by the Canadian Commissioner of Competition with the Competition Tribunal today completes one of the remaining conditions to the closing of the transaction. The transaction remains on course to close in the first half of 2023, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the other conditions to the closing of the merger. (All financial information is in U.S. Dollars)

Mercer International Inc. reported second quarter 2020 Operating EBITDA decreased to $40.5 million from $70.0 million in the second quarter of 2019 and from $57.0 million in the first quarter of 2020. In the second quarter of 2020, net loss was $8.4 million (or $0.13 per share) compared to net income of $10.3 million in the second quarter of 2019 and a net loss of $3.4 million in the first quarter of 2020. In the first half of 2020, Operating EBITDA decreased by 50% to $97.5 million from $193.8 million in the same period of 2019. In the first half of 2020, net loss was $11.8 million compared to net income of $61.9 million in the same period of 2019.