Former Tissue and Specialty Paper Maker Henan Aobo up for Auction in China

Henan Aobo Paper, a tissue and specialty paper manufacturer, will see its assets auctioned off by a local court in Xinxiang city, Henan province, China.

The assets for sale include the usage rights for the land its mill occupies, the associated buildings, infrastructure facilities, its paper production lines, and registered trademarks, among other items.

Once a prosperous medium-sized paper producer in Central China, Henan, Aobo used to run several tissue and specialty paper machines with a total capacity of around 80,000 mtpy at its sole mill. It also ran a 40,000-mtpy integrated deinked pulp (DIP) line there.

Two new tissue machines, which together would have been able to produce 20,000 mtpy of paper towels, were still under construction at the Xinxiang plant when the company was emmeshed in a debt crisis in 2013.

The city court declared the company bankrupt in 2015 and put its assets up for auction three times in 2016. It received no bids then. According to the administrator, despite the insolvency process the company has kept two tissue PMs and two specialty PMs in operation.

The two TMs can churn out up to 25,000 mtpy of tissue jumbo rolls in total. The two specialty PMs, which currently produce unbleached kraft paper, have a combined capacity of 20,000 mtpy.

The other PMs and the DIP line at the site have been idled since the company went bankrupt.