AbitibiBowater Inc.

AbitibiBowater discussed its future direction behind closed doors Thursday, less than a day after Quebec politicians granted pension changes required for its restructuring. The Montreal-based forestry company barred the public and media from its first annual meeting in three years and the first since it exited 20 months of creditor and bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States.

Annual meetings are routinely open to observers in Canada. But company spokesman Pierre Choquette said the newsprint giant considered the event a private meeting “from a legal standpoint.”

“It’s a private meeting so I cannot tell you about the content of what’s

Paper manufacturers 
have adopted several strategies to optimize coated and uncoated stocks for running on the emerging array of high-speed, 
continuous-feed, color inkjet presses. While some papers may need to be fine-tuned to run on individual brands of presses, an additional surface treatment may also be required with certain paper/press combinations, especially coated stocks.

It will permanently close the paper machine and cease its pilot project to manufacture recycled lightweight and ultra lightweight packaging and linerboard grades within the next 30 days. Approximately 150 employees are affected by this closure.

Commercial printing industry news briefs, including items on Inco Graphics, PRINTSouth, Edwards Brothers, Cenveo, Hammer Packaging, AbitibiBowater, RR Donnelley, Harvey-Hauser Press and Boomer's Printing.

MONTREAL—AbitibiBowater has successfully completed its reorganization and  emerged from creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Protection Act (CCAA) in Canada and Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Since 2007, the company has restructured itself both financially and operationally, including streamlining its asset profile to top-performing facilities by closing or idling 3.4 million metric tons of paper capacity on an annual basis. This represents capacity reductions of 41 percent for newsprint and 32 percent for commercial printing papers.

The court also issued an order today overruling objections to the U.S. plan. AbitibiBowater now expects to emerge from Chapter 11 and its reorganization plans to become effective in December. “We look forward to working with everyone to continue to shape AbitibiBowater as a leaner, financially flexible and more competitive organization,” stated David J. Paterson, president and CEO.

Insolvent newsprint giant AbitibiBowater's restructuring plan still awaits U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval after Thursday's hearing was adjourned until next week. A telephone hearing with lawyers for the Montreal-based company and a number of creditors is scheduled to resume Tuesday. AbitibiBowater spokesman Seth Kursman said it's unknown when the judge will finally rule on the plan.

"We continue to make progress and still anticipate emerging this fall a stronger, more sustainable company," Kursman said in an email.

Creditor Aurelius Capital Management told the court that some of its objections to a revised plan have been resolved. Court approval

AbitibiBowater announced today that nine individuals have been selected to serve, along with current Board Chairman Richard B. Evans and President and CEO David J. Paterson, on a newly constituted board of directors.

The deal pertains to AbitibiBowater's assets and rights in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, expropriated by the provincial government. "We are now able to move forward and focus on finalizing our restructuring process and plans to emerge from creditor protection in the fall 2010," stated David J. Paterson, President and CEO