WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — Verso Corporation has agreed to sell its assets to BillerudKorsnäs in a deal that the Swedish company says will create one of the largest virgin fiber paper and packaging providers globally.
According to a release from BillerudKorsnäs, the deal values Verso at over $825 million, or about $27 per share. Once the deal closes in mid-2022, they plan on using Verso’s assets to create one of the most cost-efficient and sustainable paperboard platforms in North America by converting some of Verso’s assets into paperboard machines.
It’s unclear what that means for the Verso mill in Wisconsin Rapids, which was idled in the summer of 2020. A limited number of employees have remained in the building to perform basic maintenance on the equipment in the event that it could one day restart.
A statement from Verso did detail plans for two other facilities in Escanaba and Quinnesec, Michigan but made no mention of the Wisconsin Rapids facility. That detail was not lost on State Senator Mary Felzkowski, who released the following statement shortly after word of the sale broke:
“Although I am concerned that BillerudKorsnäs’ merger statement failed to mention the Wisconsin Rapids mill, while going into detail on the investments they will make in Verso’s two Michigan mills in Escanaba and Quinnesec, I remain optimistic that this new ownership is a step in the right direction. I am sure we will find out more in the coming days.”
State lawmakers tried unsuccessfully this year to help finance the purchase of the Wisconsin Rapids mill by a local cooperative. The latest effort to help prop up the facility, which employed hundreds of workers at the time of its closing, involves a grant to help heat the facility over the winter to keep it ready to restart in the event that the facility does sell with the intention of bringing it back online.
