Wausau Paper

KPS announced in April it was acquiring Thilmany Papers, which has mills in Kaukauna (WI) and De Pere (WI), from Packaging Dynamics. It announced previously it was buying Wausau Paper’s specialty paper business.

KPS now has definitive agreements to buy both operations it said in a statement Monday. The deal is expected to close by summer. “We are very excited to create Expera,” said Raquel Palmer, a representative with KPS, a New York-based private equity firm.

She said the combined operations of Wausau Paper and Thilmany will make Expera a leading manufacturer of specialty paper.

MOSINEE, WI—Wausau Paper is selling its specialty paper business, plus paper mills in Mosinee and Rhinelander, to KPS Capital Partners for $130 million, the Green Bay Press Gazette reported. KPS is a New York-based private equity firm.

Wausau Paper plans to sell its specialty paper business, along with paper mills in Mosinee and Rhinelander (WI), for $130 million to a company with a history of buying up and then investing in failing companies.

Wausau Paper announced Thursday in a statement that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell the arm of its company that operates out of central Wisconsin to KPS Capital Partners.

The Mosinee community has been on edge and eager to find out the future of the mill–the lifeline of the city’s economy–since January when Wausau Paper announced it would sell of three of

Two small towns in northern Wisconsin - Rhinelander, population 7,800, and Mosinee, 3,988 - are the latest to feel the paper mill jitters that have cast a pall across the economy of the state's forested northern half.

Both worry that their respective mills, each owned by money-losing Wausau Paper Corp., are destined for closure.

Wausau Paper announced the closure of the company’s technical specialty paper mill in Brainerd, MN, to occur early in the second quarter of 2013. The closure will affect approximately 130 employees.

The Company recently announced its intent to strategically reposition the company to focus on its Tissue business. A range of alternatives for the divestiture of the technical specialty business have been explored. It has become clear that Brainerd will not contribute to those alternatives and the closure will significantly improve the continuing Paper segment operating results.

“The acquisition of Wausau brands strengthens the breadth of our existing fine paper business with added scale in the marketplace, prospects for growth in new channels such as retail, and the opportunity to provide our customers with better service,” said Julie Schertell, president, Neenah Fine Paper.

One of Wausau Paper's largest shareholders now wants the company to sell its specialty paper division or even the entire company. In a letter filed this week with federal regulators and sent to the Mosinee-based papermaker's board of directors, Starboard Value—a New York-based hedge fund, which is a partnership involving private investors—wrote that Wausau Paper remains undervalued on Wall Street and that a sale could allow investors to make more money.

"We've made moves related to that business plan, which included leaving the print and color division and focusing the efforts of the paper segment on specialty and technical papers,"

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ALPHARETTA, GA—Neenah Paper has signed a definitive agreement to purchase certain premium brands, including Astrobrights and Royal, from Wausau Paper. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Neenah Paper has signed a definitive agreement to purchase certain premium paper brands, including Astrobrights and Royal, from Wausau Paper. “The purchase of these profitable brands is consistent with our stated intent to participate in the consolidation of the premium paper category when it can create significant value for our shareholders with minimal investment,” said John O’Donnell, Neenah CEO.