UPM sale finalized

Jan. 19, 2009

The UPM sign is gone and the last of the company's employees will soon follow after UPM announced the final sale of its New Brunswick mills last Thursday.

UPM spokesperson Sharon Pond said there are still three or four employees left to finish up what is needed to finalize the move.

"They will be gone in the next couple of months."

The company sold its paper and groundwood pulp mills, woodland operations and sawmills in Blackville and Bathurst to Norwegian solar panel manufacturer Umoe Solar.

UPM signed an agreement for the sale of its assets to Umoe Jan. 6, but it wasn't finalized until last Thursday.

Both Umoe and UPM are private companies and agreed not to disclose the final sale price, although a press release issued by UPM stated the company recorded an income of 20 million Euros on the sale as a special item in the first quarter of 2009.

That is the equivalent of almost $38 million (Cdn.).

Olavi Kauppila, UPM's senior vice-president of investor relations, said UPM had already written off most of its assets in Miramichi before the sale was finalized.

"It depends on how much those assets were worth on our balance sheet."

He wouldn't go into details about the financial aspects of the sale, but Kauppila said more information may be released in the company's quarterly results.

"That's all that we can say at this time."

CEP Local 689 president Chris Allison said he was at the union hall yesterday and heard about the sale because people there were talking about it.

"Everybody's just waiting."

Although he didn't know what is going to happen with Umoe, Allison said the government wouldn't have enticed them here without some sort of plan.

"It wouldn't make any sense."

Allison said he heard Umoe may tie their Miramichi operation into their Brazil business and it wasn't clear to him yet what Umoe's plans are for the Miramichi.

"It's hard to fathom what exactly is going to be done."

Pond said the important thing about the sale is it will be a positive thing for the Miramichi.

"Anything that's happened in the past is the past."

In a news release issued last week, UPM said they worked with the provincial government over the past year as they tried to sell the mills.

"We appreciate the support and understanding of the community and government during UPM's time in New Brunswick, and we are pleased to see new hope for all with the sale," said Miramichi General Manager Timo Suutarla.

For Allison, he said UPM looked good when they came to the area, but it's been a roller coaster ride since he took over as the union's president in 2005.

"It's adios UPM."