ND Paper Reaches Agreement to Acquire Old Town, Maine Pulp Mill

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): ND Paper LLC-the U.S. subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited announced that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with OTM Holdings, LLC towards purchase of the pulp mill located in Old Town, Maine. The all-cash deal will also include approximately 100 acres of land. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to company press release, ND Paper plans to reconfigure the mill so as to reduce the manufacturing costs. Firstly, it intends to move the production mix from hardwood kraft to softwood kraft pulp. Also, the mill will focus on unbleached softwood pulp, by eliminating bleaching operations. In addition, it expects to achieve significant reduction in overall overhead costs through effective sharing of several management and administrative functions with nearby Rumford Division.

ND Paper proposes to make major capital investment at the mill facility, in a phase manner. This will enable the restart of mill operations by Q1 next year and achieve production of 275,000 air dry metric tonnes of unbleached kraft pulp per annum. The acquisition is in line with the company’s global fiber strategy and previously announced growth initiatives.

Ken Liu, CEO of ND Paper noted that the company is extremely thrilled to create strong future for the facility. Governor Paul R. LePage congratulated ND Paper for showing the confidence in getting the Old Town Mill up and running.