Georgia-Pacific Reaches Agreement to Purchase Alabama River and Alabama Pine Pulp Mills

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Jun 02, 2010, 12:30 ET

ATLANTA, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Parsons & Whittemore and Georgia-Pacific have reached a definitive agreement for subsidiaries of Georgia-Pacific to purchase Parsons & Whittemore's Alabama River and Alabama Pine pulp mills in Perdue Hill, Ala. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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This acquisition includes the assets of the pulp mills, Alabama River Woodlands, the tall oil plant, the biodiesel plant, the chip mills at Elba and Jacksons Gap, Ala., and a pulpwood yard at Demopolis, Ala. All employees of these operations will be offered employment with Georgia-Pacific. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Both companies are committed to working toward a seamless transition of the business for suppliers and customers.

"With the help of literally thousands of people over the past 35 years, we have built a world-class business, with pulp mills that rank among the highest in quality, productivity, safety and environmental responsibility," said George Landegger, Parsons & Whittemore chairman and CEO. "Sincere thanks goes out to our employees for their diligent and dedicated efforts, and to all those in the local communities, such as landowners, wood suppliers and public officials, who had faith in us and who have assisted us greatly.

Landegger added, "I am proud of the relationships that we have developed in the Monroe County area and will continue to be active in local economic and social development. The sale to Georgia-Pacific represents a very good fit within the industry, and the pulp mills can look forward with confidence to a secure and successful future."

"Georgia-Pacific is committed to strategic growth of our businesses, both organically as well as through acquisition and innovation," said Jim Hannan, Georgia-Pacific CEO and president. "The employees and assets of Alabama River and Alabama Pine will be fully integrated into our GP Cellulose business unit. We believe this investment will add long-term value to our company, our cellulose business and the communities where we operate."

"We are excited to integrate the talented employees and high quality assets of Alabama River and Alabama Pine into our GP Cellulose business," said Pat Boushka, GP Cellulose president. "We look forward to serving the existing customers of these businesses and the completion next year of the current fluff conversion project so that we can continue to grow with our global fluff customers."

GP Cellulose is a non-integrated supplier of market and fluff pulp to global markets, with state-of-the-art pulp mills in Brunswick, Ga., and New Augusta, Miss. Commercial offices are located in Atlanta; Hong Kong; Montevideo, Uruguay; Shanghai, China; and Zug, Switzerland. GP Cellulose's Brunswick and Leaf River mills produce an array of pulp grades, which are delivered to every region of the world for a wide variety of end uses and converting technologies.

BMO Capital Markets acted as financial advisor to Parsons & Whittemore in the transaction.

Parsons & Whittemore, a privately held company based in Rye Brook, N.Y., was founded in 1853 and acquired by Karl F. Landegger in 1944. Throughout its history, the company has been recognized as a leading turnkey engineer/builder of pulp and paper mills, having completed some 60 projects in 28 countries. Alabama River Pulp is one of the largest pulp mills in North America and a leading global supplier of hardwood and softwood pulp.

Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of building products, tissue, packaging, paper, cellulose and related chemicals. The company employs more than 40,000 people at approximately 300 locations in North America, South America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific creates long-term value by using resources efficiently to provide innovative products and solutions that meet the needs of customers and society, while operating in a manner that is environmentally and socially responsible and economically sound. For more information, visit www.gp.com.

SOURCE Georgia-Pacific