Cascades to Sell U.S. Boxboard Mill, Converting Plant to Private Equity Firm
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Cascades Inc., Kingsey Falls, Que., Canada, this week reported that it will sell two of its boxboard facilities—the Versailles mill in Connecticut and the Hebron plant in Kentucky—to OpenGate Capital, a private equity firm, The sale is expected to be completed on June 23. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Versailles mill specializes in the manufacturing of coated recycled boxboard, and has an annual production capacity of 165,000 metric tons. The Hebron plant converts coated boxboard into approximately 20,000 metric tons of folding cartons annually.
Net proceeds from the transaction will be reinvested in the other Cascades boxboard facilities, to improve their operations, efficiency, and competitiveness in the years to come. In particular, Cascades plans to purchase new printing presses and other equipments for certain of its remaining folding carton plants. The Canadian boxboard mills will also benefit from this transaction through future capital investments.
Alain Lemaire, president and CEO of Cascades, said that "the divestiture of the Versailles and Hebron facilities, following the sales of Dopaco and the Avot-Vallée mills announced earlier this year, is a further step in our overall strategy to gain more financial flexibility and streamline our portfolio of assets in order to better pursue the development of our core operations. We intend to continue focusing our efforts and investments towards modernizing our packaging and tissue paper facilities to improve productivity and profitability."
Marc-André Dépin, president and CEO of Norampac, a division of Cascades Canada, added that "Cascades and OpenGate Capital have made every effort to ensure the transfer of ownership will be seamless for the customers of both facilities. We want to thank the Versailles and Hebron employees for their involvement and efforts throughout the years, and wish them every success."
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