West Fraser Announces Indefinite Curtailment of Perry Sawmill

Paper Excellence announced that it recently donated 9,000 jack pine seedlings to the James Smith Cree Nation. James Smith Cree Nation is located on Treaty 6 territory, approximately 60 kilometres east of Prince Albert. The jack pine is native to Saskatchewan and produces excellent habitat for local plant and animal species. The seedlings planted this year will grow to become a forest on the James Smith Cree reserve. “Paper Excellence understands the importance of being good neighbours and greatly values its relationships with Indigenous communities,” said Carlo Dal Monte, Vice President Energy and Strategic Development for Paper Excellence. “We’re pleased to be able to make this donation to the James Smith Cree Nation and, in a small way, support their connection to the land and desire to invest in sustainable forestry.”

Norske Skog ASA has successfully completed a EUR 150 million senior secured bond issue with maturity in March 2026. The new bonds will have a coupon of 3 months EURIBOR plus 550 bps. We are satisfied with the strong investor demand and to have secured new long-term financing for the group, allowing us to pursue our strategic growth initiatives, says Sven Ombudstvedt, CEO of Norske Skog. The net proceeds from the bond issue will inter alia be used to refinance Norske Skog’s outstanding bond maturing in June 2022 (“NSKOG01”). The refinancing is part of a group-wide capitalisation process to finance strategic investments into the growing and high-margin recycled containerboard market.

Sappi Limited announced that Marco Eikelenboom (53), currently Vice President Marketing & Sales, Graphic Papers at Sappi Europe, has been appointed as CEO of Sappi Europe as from 1 April 2021. Marco Eikelenboom succeeds Berry Wiersum (65), a 40-year veteran of the industry in Europe, who will retire at the end of March 2021. Berry Wiersum joined Sappi as CEO of Sappi Europe, a position he held for 14 years. Commenting on the retirement of Berry Wiersum, Steve Binnie, Chief Executive Officer of Sappi Limited said: “I would like to thank Berry for his significant service to Sappi during his 14 years with the company and for the support he has shown me as CEO. He is an outstanding leader both for the company and for the industry. His tenure saw massive changes as we made significant acquisitions, invested in machine rebuilds, restructured and refocused the business, all to ensure that Sappi could respond to and take advantage of the changes which were occurring. Most recently he also led Sappi Europe’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. He and his team responded to each one with alacrity.”