Dunn Paper Acquires Specialty Paper Mills from Clearwater Paper

Wingate Partners, Dallas, Texas, USA, this week announced that its portfolio company, Dunn Paper Inc., Port Huron, Mich., has acquired the specialty products business from Clearwater Paper Corp., Spokane, Wash. The transaction, which involves 470 employees, includes the sale of five Clearwater Paper specialty tissue and machine glazed paper mills located at Wiggins, Miss., Menominee, Mich.,  East Hartford, Conn., Gouverneur (Natural Dam), N.Y., and St. Catharines, Ont., Canada.

 

"The sale of the specialty products business sharpens our Consumer Products Division’s focus on the core retail business," said Linda Massman, president and CEO of Clearwater Paper. "It’s about improving our approach and efficiencies in all parts of our business while meeting or surpassing our customers’ expectations, and our Company financial goals. We believe that the capital projects in which we will invest the proceeds of this sale can yield a 300 to 400 basis point improvement in the Consumer Product Division’s EBITDA margins over the next three years." 

 

"On behalf of Clearwater Paper, we sincerely thank the specialty products team for their hard work and commitment to providing our customers with high-quality products and services," Massman added. 

 

Brent Earnshaw, Dunn Paper CEO, said that "we are very pleased to welcome the exceptional people who lead and work at these specialty mills to the Dunn Paper team. Combining the unique assets, capabilities and products of these mills with Dunn Paper's Port Huron mill will lead to a specialty paper company with unmatched product offerings for our diverse customer base."

 

The five mill locations include nine paper machines with more than 200,000 tons of production capacity across a diverse set of product lines including machine glazed paper, coated paper, specialty napkin, towel and tissue, and wet crepe. The specialty mills' focus on niche paper products aligns with Dunn Paper's commitment to providing market leading, high value added paper solutions. As a result of the transaction, Dunn Paper has significantly expanded its presence in the specialty paper and tissue markets and can offer a wider array of products and solutions than ever before. 

 

Brad Brenneman, Partner at Wingate Partners, added that "we are honored to support Brent and his expanded leadership team to pursue this extraordinary opportunity. The company's unique assets, service ethic, and, most importantly, exceptional team will enable Dunn Paper to provide even more value-added specialty paper solutions to its customers."

Dunn Paper, Inc. is a specialty paper manufacturer with customers worldwide. The company produces a wide array of specialty waxed, coated, and uncoated MG papers used in various food packaging and specialty label applications.