According to a report this past week by the Daily Press, Escanaba, Mich., USA, on July 1 an interested buyer submitted paperwork to purchase the Manistique paper mill in Michigan, but the name of that buyer is still unknown.

In a statement jointly issued by Kelly W. George, president and CEO of mBank, and Jon Johnson, VP and mill manager for FutureMark Manistique, it was announced a letter of intent from a qualified buyer was formally entered to purchase the assets of the mill with the objective of reopening the mill to make paper.

If a deal is reached to purchase the mill, paper production could resume as soon as early in the fourth quarter of this year. However, the sale itself is still under discussion.

"While this is certainly a much needed step forward in hearing the machine operating again in our town since its abrupt closure by its private equity owner in late March, it is not a definitive final purchase agreement in any way, and is subject to several months of exclusive ongoing due diligence by the interested party to make a final determination whether or not to purchase," George and Johnson said in the statement.

The name of the interested buyer may not be made available until the deal is finalized due to strict confidentiality language included in the letter of intent.

"We will have no further comment during this time until we are able to announce that a final definitive purchase agreement has been entered into, or that the interested party has chosen to exit their pursuit of acquiring the mill assets," the statement said.