Mergers & Acquisitions

Hygiene and health company Essity has signed an agreement today to acquire the remaining 25% of the shares in the Swedish medical solutions company ABIGO Medical AB. Essity acquired 75% of ABIGO Medical in February 2020.

Pending approval from the bankruptcy court, the former Ponderay Newsprint Mill will be reopened as a corrugated cardboard paper production facility, according to court filings sent from Chapter 7 Trustee John D. Munding. Allrise Capital had the winning bid, in the amount of $18,100,000.

UFP Industries, Inc. announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of UFP Construction, LLC, has acquired the assets of Endurable Building Products, LLC.

Weyerhaeuser Company announced the completion of its acquisition of 69,200 acres of high-quality Alabama timberlands from Soterra, a subsidiary of Greif, Inc., for approximately $149 million earlier this week. Separately, the company announced an agreement to sell 145,000 acres of timberlands in the North Cascades region of Washington to Hampton Resources for $266 million.

UFP Industries, Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Sunbelt Forest Products Corporation closed on its agreement to purchase the net operating assets of Spartanburg Forest Products, Inc. and its affiliates. The purchase price for Spartanburg's property, plants and equipment is approximately $16.5 million. Sunbelt also purchased Spartanburg's net working capital for an amount equal to the net book value determined on the date of closing, which totaled approximately $146.5 million.

Essity is acquiring the distribution rights to the wound care technology Sorbact® in Australia and New Zealand from the Australian company Bayport Brands. In 2020, sales of Sorbact® in the region amounted to AUD 1.7m (approximately SEK 11m).

Pixelle Specialty Solutions LLC announced it has completed two strategic investments that will further strengthen its portfolio and enhance service to new and existing customers. On March 31st, Pixelle acquired the specialty paper business Rollsource from Veritiv Corporation. On April 5th, Pixelle acquired the carbonless rolls and security papers business from Appvion Operations Inc.

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. obtained a final order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada, approving the plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia), pursuant to which Drax Group plc through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Drax Canadian Holdings Inc., will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company for C$11.30 in cash per share.

Neenah, Inc. announced that it had completed the previously announced agreement to acquire Global Release Liners, S.L., the parent company of Industrias de Transformacion de Andoain, S.A. ("ITASA"), from Magnum Capital and other minority shareholders.

Södra is acquiring Ture Johanssons Trävaru AB and AB Tenhults Impregneringsverk. The acquisitions will take effect immediately following approval by the Swedish Competition Authority. This process is expected to take up to six weeks.

UPM sells its Jyväskylä plywood mill site and premises, located in Säynätsalo, Jyväskylä in Finland, to real estate developer Redeve Oy. The transaction was completed today, and the ownership of the real estate was transferred to Redeve immediately. At the same time, businesses currently renting premises on the site, will become tenants of Redeve.

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. (RYAM) and GreenFirst Forest Products Inc., a Canadian lumber company, have entered into a binding asset purchase agreement pursuant to which RYAM has agreed to sell all of its lumber and newsprint facilities and related assets located in Ontario and Québec. to GreenFirst for an expected purchase price of approximately $214 million including inventory on hand at the time of closing which is payable approximately 85% in cash, 15% common shares of the capital of GreenFirst.

Liberty Diversified International (LDI) has acquired the assets of Miller Container Company, a Quad Cities-based manufacturer of corrugated cartons and displays.

A measure that could help revive Verso Corp.'s Duluth paper mill appears well-positioned to be signed into law as part of an omnibus jobs bill.

Essity is acquiring the distribution rights to the wound care technology Sorbact® in Australia and New Zealand from the Australian company Bayport Brands. In 2020, sales of Sorbact® in the region amounted to AUD 1.7m (approximately SEK 11m).

Pixelle Specialty Solutions LLC announced it has completed two strategic investments that will further strengthen its portfolio and enhance service to new and existing customers. On March 31st, Pixelle acquired the specialty paper business Rollsource from Veritiv Corporation. On April 5th, Pixelle acquired the carbonless rolls and security papers business from Appvion Operations Inc.

UFP Industries, Inc. announced that Handprint, the growing home and décor business unit of UFP Retail Solutions, has signed an agreement to purchase the operating assets of Walnut Hollow Farm, Inc. Pending customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close by the end of April 2021.

Multi-Color Corporation, one of the largest label companies in the world, announced the acquisition of Melbourne, Australia-based Herrods, a leading provider of in-mold label (IML) solutions in Australia and New Zealand. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A provision in a bill recently approved by the Minnesota House of Representatives could help breathe new life into the Duluth paper mill, following Verso Corp.'s June decision to shut the mill down.

Glatfelter Corporation announced the antitrust regulatory process has concluded and it may now proceed with the previously announced acquisition of Georgia-Pacific's U.S. nonwovens business for $175 million.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. is exploring a sale of textbook publisher and education technology company McGraw-Hill Education that could fetch up to $6 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

International Paper has purchased two state-of-the-art corrugated box plants in Spain, further growing its capabilities in Madrid and Catalonia, the largest industrial regions in the country.

Judging from a message sent to at large City Councilor Derek Medved Monday, ST Paper's efforts to purchase Verso Corp.'s shuttered Duluth mill aren't going very well.

Sonoco announced it has closed on the sale of its Display and Packaging business in the United States to Hood Container Corporation for $80 million in cash.

Domtar Corporation announced that it completed the previously disclosed sale of its Personal Care business to affiliates of American Industrial Partners for $920 million. This divestiture is a significant milestone in the Company's strategic transformation to become a leading paper, pulp and packaging company.