Employees Acquire Appleton

APPLETON, WI—A new buyout method has placed ownership of a paper company in the hands of its employees. Workers of Appleton Papers have purchased all the company's stock from its European parent, Arjo Wiggins Appleton, in a deal valued at $810 million.

As part of the deal, management and non-management employees voted to transfer $107 million from their 401(a) and 401(k) plans through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) into Paperweight, the acquisition vehicle used by the employees to acquire the company. Paperweight then acquired Appleton, and Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin of Washington—Paperweight's financial advisor—arranged financing in excess of $700 million through bank debt, bonds and junior capital in support of the employees' $107 million equity investment in Appleton.