Indian paper firm in the race to buy Verso's Bucksport mill

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): Mumbai-based paper manufacturing company with operations in New York has expressed interest to buy and operate the closed Bucksport paper mill of Verso. A hearing was held at the US District court to consider the letter submitted by Kejriwal Singapore International. The letter dated 16^th January stated that the company is willing to purchase the assets of the mill and continue operations at the mill by hiring employees.

Maine Department of Economic and Community Development is also believed to have filed letters with the judge, saying that they had been working with at least two companies that had interest in keeping the Bucksport mill operating as a paper manufacturer. However, the names of the companies were not mentioned in the letter.

The Verso Paper Corp. mill had shut down production in December, putting more than 500 people out of work. The company had announced plans in December to sell the mill to a subsidiary of Montreal-based scrap metal recycler American Iron and Metal for $60 million.

One of the unions that represented workers at the mill, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, had sued the company in federal court to block the sale, alleging that Verso’s sale of the mill to the metal recycler breaks antitrust laws and is an illegal attempt by the company to limit the supply of coated paper on the market.

Kejriwal Singapore International is an international paper manufacturing and sales organization with more than $1 billion in sales of paper and paper-related products, employing more than 8,000 employees in 23 different countries.