LEWISTON, ID – Clearwater Paper Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its tissue business to Sofidel America Corporation for $1.06 billion. The transaction represents the next step in the Company’s transformation to become a premier independent supplier of paperboard to North American customers.
The company’s Matt Van Vleet says the proposed sale is not expected to affect employment at the Lewiston tissue mill or pulp and paperboard plant.
Van Vleet says Clearwater Paper crews are just wrapping up one of the company’s biggest construction and maintenance outages. It began in early June, and the total cost was expected to be around $75 million, including around $35 million to rebuild one of its two recovery boilers.
A press release states that the sale of the tissue business is slated to close in the latter part of this year, subject to customary closing conditions, including the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.
“Our tissue business has delivered excellent financial and operational performance, supported by outstanding service. We believe this business needs scale and investment to drive growth over the longer term, and we are excited to watch its continued progress as part of Sofidel. We appreciate the dedication of our talented team members across the organization, who have been instrumental to the successful execution of our strategy,” Clearwater Paper President and Chief Executive Officer Arsen Kitch says.
“The acquisition of Clearwater Paper’s tissue business is another important milestone on our path to meet the growing demand for our products in the United States,” according to Luigi Lazzareschi, Chief Executive Officer of Sofidel. “We look forward to welcoming all the new employees into our family and integrating the tissue business into our network to strengthen our growth by achieving scale and expanding our ability to deliver sustainable, energy efficient products to customers.”
On May 1st, Clearwater Paper announced the successful completion of its strategic purchase of the Augusta, Georgia, bleached paperboard manufacturing facility from Graphic Packaging International, LLC, for approximately $700 million. The company operates a global network of design and manufacturing facilities serving the world’s most widely recognized brands in food, beverage, food service, household, healthcare, and other consumer products.
