Arbitrage court of Karelia regarded Kondopoga mill’s request on bankruptcy on March 06 and approved to introduce bankruptcy administration at the mill, with Andrei Yenkov appointed external mill manager.

Liabilities of the mill exceed 13 billion Rubles (€326.3 million).

Introduction of external management will save company’s facilities and equity in order to convert production lines for new products.

Presently, Kondopoga mill is loaded at 75-80%, most of the workers are laid off.

On February 26, acting Chief Executive of the company Viktor Tolstov met Karelia governor Aleksandr Hudilainen and later had talks with mill managers and engineers on further cost-cutting measures and ways to get rid of non-core costs.

The mill accumulated enough wood to work with two papermaking machines. Presently, PM8 is working. This machine has recently executed large order from Indian wholesalers. Mill managers are planning to launch PM9 in mid-March.

In cooperation with its recent investor, Bank Sankt-Peterburg, the company agreed to establish a trade house and appoint Aleksandr Mozgovoy its director. He earlier managed EnergoSberezhenie LLC, a company that helped Kondopoga mill to enter wholesale energy market.

The trade house will procure raw materials and energy for the mill and sell ready-made goods.

Minerals Technologies Inc., has announced that it has signed a commercial agreement with CMPC Celulose Riograndense to provide Fulfill(TM) E-325 at a paper mill in Guaiba, Brazil. This marks Minerals Technologies' first such agreement in South America for the new, high-filler technology.

The company now has 13 agreements with paper mills that have adopted the Fulfill(TM) E-325 technology introduced in late 2010, which verifies the technology's commercial progress. The FulFill(TM) brand offers papermakers a variety of efficient, flexible solutions that allows papermakers to increase loading levels of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), which replaces higher cost pulp, and increases PCC usage.

"We are very pleased that this premier paper company, with which we have been supplying PCC at Guaiba since 2007, will adopt our new FulFill(TM) technology. FulFill(TM) will provide CMPC a competitive advantage and allow them to continue producing quality paper but at a lower cost," said Joseph C. Muscari, Executive Chairman of Minerals Technologies. "We now have commercial agreements with papermakers in Asia, Europe, South Africa and North and South America, which validates the revitalization of our Research and Development pipeline and our commitment to advance our technology leadership throughout our global satellite network." 

CMPC Celulose Riograndense is a Brazilian company and one of the largest regional producers of bleached pulp using short eucalyptus fiber. The company's industrial unit, located in Guaíba, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, runs a state-of-the-art cellulose pulp mill, with modern resources for environmental protection. It has an installed capacity of 450,000 metric tons of marketable pulp per year, aimed at the manufacture of personal hygiene paper and specialty paper, both highly valued goods. Part of the pulp production is directed to the on-site paper machine to produce 60,000 annual metric tons of printing and writing paper, chiefly sold in the domestic market. CMPC Celulose Riograndense is a subsidiary of Chilean-based Empresas CMPC S.A.

PCC is a specialty pigment for filling and coating high-quality paper. By substituting Minerals Technologies' PCC for more expensive wood fiber, customers are able to produce brighter, higher quality paper at lower cost. In 1986, Minerals Technologies originated the satellite concept for making and delivering PCC on-site at paper mills and the concept was a major factor in revolutionizing papermaking in North America. Today, the company has 57 satellite plants in operation or under construction around the world and continues to lead the industry with consistent quality and technical innovation.

Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) has announced that Mr. Daniel Buron, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, will present at the Goldman Sachs Paper, Forest Products and Packaging Conference in Montreal, QC on Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 8:45 a.m. (ET). The presentation will be webcast and can be accessed in the Investors section of the Domtar corporate website at www.domtar.com. 

On March 13, 2013 the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Sw. Finansinspektionen) approved and registered BillerudKorsnäs’ prospectus in connection with the establishment of the company’s Swedish Medium Term Note program (MTN). The program has a limit of SEK 5 billion and enables BillerudKorsnäs to issue bonds on the Swedish market. “The program is a natural step to create flexilibity in our debt portfolio and enable efficient funding”, says Susanne Lithander, CFO BillerudKorsnäs.

The prospectus is published on BillerudKorsnäs’ website www.billerudkorsnas.com and at www.finansinspektionen.se.

SEB is the arranger and is also dealer together with Handelsbanken Capital Markets

Inaugural Paper Recycling Conference Asia announces full programme featuring Deloitte China, Smurfit Kappa and Ekman Recycling

The popular Paper Recycling Conference series hits Asia for its launch in May 2013 and takes place in Shanghai, China.

The launch of this successful conference series, produced by the Recycling Today and Smithers Pira, in co-operation with China TAPI, into Asia provides a unique opportunity for companies in North America, Europe and rest of the world to meet buyers in the Asian market.

The full programme for Paper Recycling Conference Asia launching on 30-31 May 2013, has been announced. Highlights include the opening Keynote Address - The role of recyclables in China’s economic resurgence, presented by Professor Wang, Ministry of Environmental Protection, China; an overview of macro-economic trends impacting Asia’s recovered paper industry from Sally Sun, Deloitte China, and an exclusive One-on-One Interview with Ross Li, Lee & Man.

View the full programme here

Attendees will hear from other key speakers on the agenda, including; Randy Kim, Ekman Recycling; Henri Vermeulen, Smurfit Kappa Group; Niu Qingmin, Jiangsu Paper Association; Yoshimitsu Tanaka, Kaneko, and more, on recovered paper supply, infrastructure and quality issues and challenges.

“We’re excited about launching a Paper Recycling Conference in Asia, particularly as Asian demand continues to represent the major growth area for recovered paper.  Since this inaugural event replicates the design of our existing events list to attract merchants, brokers, suppliers of recovered fibre and mills from around the globe, it’s sure to represent a unique and powerful opportunity for the world's suppliers and consumers of recovered paper to meet”, Jim Keefe, Executive Vice President & Group Publisher, Recycling Today.

Norske Skog has reached an agreement with its bank syndicate resetting first quarter 2013 covenants related to the revolving credit facility (RCF). The new covenants are a leverage ratio of 5.75:1 and an interest cover ratio of 1.75:1.

The size of the RCF was reduced to EUR 70 million, from EUR 140 million, a size more in line with actual back-up liquidity requirements of the group. Norske Skog is working on refinancing the bank facility, and has a continuous dialogue with its four relationship banks regarding possible covenant resets for later quarters.

Norske Skog, Communications and Public Affairs

Alfa Laval – a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – has won an order to supply compact heat exchangers to a gas plant being built in Russia. The order, booked in the Energy & Environment segment, has a value of approximately SEK 60 million and delivery is scheduled to start in 2013 and be finalized in 2014. 

The Alfa Laval compact heat exchangers will be installed in a new gas plant in the Urengoy gas field in Russia. They will be used for heat recovery in the gas compression process, resulting in an energy-efficient process solution.

“We continue to see good demand from the gas industry. This is yet another large gas order, within a short period of time, proving our ability to provide reliable and efficient equipment to an industry with very high demands”, says Lars Renström, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group.

Did you know that… Russia’s five biggest gas companies stand for 90 percent of the country’s total gas production – and that all five are customers to Alfa Laval?

Arctic Paper has given notice that they will vote against the proposed dividend of SEK 0.10 per share proposed by the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting. The reasons given are that Rottneros reported a loss and had a “... significant increase in Rottneros' indebtedness ..." in 2012.

Since the refinancing in 2009, Rottneros has during the period 2010 to 2012 invested SEK 333 million in its mills, entirely in accordance with the plan presented at that time, and following these substantial disbursements had a net cash flow of SEK -28 million after investments and tax but before dividends.

Profit after tax amounted to SEK 116 million for the corresponding period, excluding the one-off write-down in 2011, which had no effect on the company’s capacity to pay dividends. Dividends for 2010, 2011 and the proposed dividend for 2012 amount to SEK 60 million.

The Board of Directors of Rottneros are of the opinion that the proposed dividend presented is in line with the company's dividend policy and substantially justified and well-balanced, considering: the financial position of the company; the debt/equity ratio (i.e. the company’s liabilities in relation to equity), which amounted to 0.05 at the end of 2012; the equity/debt ratio, which amounted to 77 per cent; historical results and future earnings capacity; together with low reinvestment needs for years to come.

The proposed dividend corresponds to just over 1.5 per cent of the Group's equity and four per cent of the parent company's non-restricted equity.

The Board of Directors also notes that Arctic Paper’s main shareholder, Nemus, has voted in favour of the proposed dividend in previous years and also expressed a wish for a higher dividend than the dividend that the Board chose to propose. Nemus’ subsidiary Arctic Paper thus appears to have a different view than their main shareholder regarding how Rottneros’ results are to be appropriated over time.

NewPageCorporation (NewPage), a leader in specialty papers for labeling and flexible packaging segments, has announced the launch of www.WherePaperWorks.com, a new website specifically designed as a comprehensive and easy-to-use on-line resource for converters, brand owners and end users of specialty papers. The new website features content on specialty paper applications, segments and innovation, including a downloadable calendar of industry events.

Created with the user experience firmly in mind, the website has been designed using the latest technology so the site is compatible with today's browsers and mobile devices. The site also includes news and social media content feeds, as well as a wide array of product information to help customers understand the complete range of specialty paper solutions at NewPage.

For more information, visit www.WherePaperWorks.com.

Plymouth Mill to produce bio-material with wide range of industrial applications as petro-chemical alternative - the first of its kind in over quarter century 

Domtar Corporation has announced that it has successfully installed a commercial-scale lignin separation plant at its Plymouth, North Carolina mill, the first U.S. facility of its type in over 25 years.  The production of BioChoiceTM lignin began in February, with a targeted rate of 75 tons a day, destined for a wide range of industrial applications as a bio-based alternative to the use of petroleum and other fossil fuels.

The successful installation of commercial-scale lignin removal capacity at the Plymouth Mill is the culmination of a research and engineering project launched by Domtar in 2010.  This project was further boosted when the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company a grant through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. Domtar's lignin operation sets a new path for the industry and also marks the latest sustainability milestone for a company that has long been recognized as an industry leader in forest certification and environmental stewardship.

"Our vision is to be a global leader in fiber-based innovation," said Bruno Marcoccia, Domtar's director of research and development. "A big part of this is our focus on partnering with best-in class collaborators to develop new products and markets for a wide portfolio of initiatives, like BioChoice."

"The possibilities for making a real difference in terms of offering manufacturers a bio-based alternative to the use of petro-chemicals is truly exciting," said Hasan Jameel, a professor in North Carolina State University's Department of Forest Biomaterials. "This is a big win for sustainability on two counts - Domtar improves the efficiency of its pulp-making process, and at the same time the market gets a reliable, high-quality source of this underused material with so much potential."

A wide range of potential applications for BioChoice lignin exists, including fuels, resins and thermoplastics.