Catalyst Paper accepts $13.5M bid for Arizona recycle mill assets
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
B.C. firm accepts bid for Snowflake, Arizona mill shuttered in September, Apache Railway Company
RICHMOND, B.C.—The Canadian owner of an Arizona recycle mill shuttered in September says it has accepted a $13.5-million bid for the facility and a subsidiary railway.
Catalyst Paper, based in Richmond, B.C., says a group led by Hackman Capital won the bid for its Snowflake facility and Apache Railway at a Dec. 17 auction.
According to the Canadian firm, the buyer intends to continue to operate the Apache Railway.
Announced in July, the closure decision was made after what the company described as “extensive efforts to improve the operation’s financial performance in the face of intense supply input and market pressures.”
Reduced demand and increased cost for newsprint led to the closure of the facility that once employed 308 people in the northeastern Arizona town of Snowflake, home to approximately 5,000 residents.
Catalyst acquired the facility in 2008.
The sale is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, according to Catalyst, subject to U.S. court approval and various closing conditions.
