Catalyst Paper, Richmond, B.C., Canada, is seeking a $25 million loan through the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) Major Business Expansion Bond program to help finance a new tissue machine at its Rumford, Me., USA, mill, according to an article in the Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Maine. 

If approved, the Catalyst project would be only the second project to receive financing through the program. The other project also was a tissue paper machine, with $7.5 million approved for the $120 million tissue machine at St. Croix Tissue in Baileyville, Me.

Catalyst purchased the Rumford mill from Verso in 2015 as part of a settlement with antitrust regulators that allowed Verso to acquire its larger competitor, NewPage.

The Major Business Expansion Bond Program provides long-term, credit-enhanced (by FAME) financing up to $25 million at taxable bond rates for projects that create or retain 50 or more jobs. Manufacturing expansion projects may be eligible for long-term, tax-exempt bond rates on bonds of up to $10 million.