Howe Sound Pulp and Paper (HSPP) will soon have new owners.
On Thursday, July 15, the Coast's largest employer announced that HSPP and its owners, Canfor and Oji Paper Co. Ltd., have entered into a purchase and sale agreement for all of its assets to Paper Excellence B.V.
HSPP is now the third acquisition in Canada for Paper Excellence who currently own and operate a pulp mill in Meadow Lake, Sask. and acquired the Mackenzie pulp mill in April of this year.
According to HSPP, the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions with the closing sale expected in the next three months.
"For all of Howe Sound's supplies and employees, we expect it will be business as usual when the transition to Paper Excellence occurs," said Mac Palmiere, president and CEO of HSPP Limited Partnership in a news release.
Al Strang, manager of environment, external relations echoed Pamiere's statement in a phone interview with Coast Reporter on Friday morning.
"I think this a great thing going forward for HSPP," said Strang. "At the core of Paper Excellence's business is pulp and paper. They will be looking at a lot of our products to facilitate their operations. The indication is they have plans to invest in the mill here and increase our overall production. We certainly don't anticipate any reduction in our work force. In the short-term, it's business as usual."
Howe Sound employs about 500 workers and has production capacity of 400,000 tonnes of NBSK pulp and 230,000 tonnes of mechanical paper at the facility, which was first acquired by Canfor in 1951.
Canfor and Oji Paper created the Howe Sound partnership in 1988 in a deal that expanded the plant's pulp production and added its newsprint mill.
"This is a good thing for our long-term growth and viability," added Strang.
