Verso Moves One Step Closer to Acquiring NewPage, Completing Debt Restructuring Plan

At 11 p.m. Wednesday, Verso Paper Corp. completed a debt restructuring plan—a necessary step in its efforts to acquire NewPage Holdings, which operates paper mills in Wisconsin Rapids, Biron and Stevens Point.

Two types of Verso's debt—second-lien notes and subordinated notes—were restructured Wednesday, which are debts inferior to a company's first-lien notes. If a company goes bankrupt, holders of first-lien notes will be paid first, followed by holders of second-lien notes and then subordinated notes.

Verso was successful in getting 75.6 percent of creditors, who hold $299.5 million in second-lien notes, to reduce the amount the company owes in those notes by