Mergers & Acquisitions

Cascades Inc. announces that the sale of its equity interest in Reno de Medici S.p.A. is now expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021, versus previous expectations that it would close in the third quarter.

UFP Industries announced that UFP Distribution, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UFP Construction, LLC, acquired the operating assets of Shelter Products, Inc., in Haleyville, Alabama, for $6.5 million.

The estimated completion of the transaction would be at the end of 2021 or at the beginning of 2022.

UPM has permanently closed paper production at its Shotton newsprint mill site in North Wales, United Kingdom. The site and all related assets will now be transferred to Eren Paper Ltd, a subsidiary of Modern Karton Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş., the containerboard and corrugated packaging business of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Eren Holding ("Eren"), thereby closing the transaction announced in May 2021. Eren will now start working on the conversion of the site.

UPM has permanently closed paper production at its Shotton newsprint mill site in North Wales, United Kingdom. The site and all related assets will now be transferred to Eren Paper Ltd, a subsidiary of Modern Karton Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş., the containerboard and corrugated packaging business of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Eren Holding ("Eren"), thereby closing the transaction announced in May 2021. Eren will now start working on the conversion of the site.

That company could liquidate it.

Pactiv Evergreen Inc. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pactiv Evergreen Group Holdings Inc. has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Fabri-Kal, a leading manufacturer of foodservice and consumer brand packaging solutions.

The Carlyle Group has consulted banks about either selling or taking Novolex public in a deal that would value the South Carolina-based packaging company at around $6 billion, news outlets reported.

Rengo announced that it was resolved at its Board of Directors' meeting that it will take over all shares for subscription of Taiko Paper Mfg., Ltd. (TPM) through third-party allocation on September 1, 2021 and make it a wholly owned subsidiary.

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. announced that it has completed its previously announced sale of its lumber and newsprint assets (the "Purchased Assets") to GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. ("GreenFirst"), a Canadian lumber company, for a total purchase price of approximately US$235 million, subject to final adjustments.

Essity has finalized its acquisition of 45.8% of the shares in Colombian hygiene company Productos Familia S.A. ("Familia"). Essity now owns 95.8% of Familia. The purchase price amounts to USD 1,540m (approximately SEK 13bn) for 100% of the company on a debt free basis. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Essity's earnings per share from 2021.

Avery Dennison Corporation announced it completed the acquisition of Vestcom for the purchase price of $1.45 billion, subject to customary adjustments.

Headquartered in Sylva, North Carolina, JPM specializes in the manufacturing of 100% recycled medium, corrugated sheets and digitally printed corrugated packaging.

Mercer International Inc. said it is very, very pleased to announce that it received approval from the applicable Bankruptcy Court for a sales Order approving the acquisition by its wholly-owned subsidiary of a state-of-the-art CLT manufacturing facility located at Spokane, Washington (the "Facility") for a price of $50 million, subject to customary adjustments. The closing of the sale is scheduled to occur shortly.

CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. announced its Triple T joint venture has reached a definitive agreement with a client of the Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc., a Manulife Investment Management company, to sell 301,000 acres of prime East Texas timberlands for approximately $498 million in cash, or approximately $1,656 per acre.

Novolex®, a leader in packaging choice, innovation and sustainability, has acquired Vegware, a rapidly growing international provider of compostable foodservice packaging headquartered in Edinburgh, U.K. Vegware's teams in both the U.K. and U.S. are expected to join the Novolex family. The Vegware brand will remain intact as part of Novolex's Eco-Products portfolio of brands and will continue to sell its products under the Vegware label.

The Mayr-Melnhof Group (MM) has completed the acquisition of Kotkamills, Finland, which was agreed in December 2020, after receiving approval from all relevant competition authorities. Through the acquisition, MM strengthens its position in the virgin fiber cartonboard (FBB) market with an attractive range of barrier cartonboard solutions that can replace PE (polyethylene) -coated cartonboard.

Platinum Equity announced that it has completed the acquisition of McGraw Hill, a global leader in educational content and digital platforms, for a purchase price of approximately $4.5 billion.

The mills Eerbeek and Baiersbronn together have an annual capacity of about 245kt of virgin fiber-based cartonboard (FBB) produced on two board machines and employ approximately 400 people. Sales reached Euro 195 million in 2020.

The Kwidzyn business has approximately 2,300 employees with an annual capacity to produce 740,000 metric tons of folding boxboard, uncoated freesheet, specialty kraft papers, and market pulp on four machines.

The board of directors for Verso Corp. has formed a special committee to evaluate an offer to purchase the company.

CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. announced that it had completed the sale of 18,063 acres of prime Oregon timberlands - known as the Bandon property - for $100 million in cash, or approximately $5,536 per acre, to Roseburg Resources Co. The property had been purchased in August 2018 for $88.8 million or $4,916 per acre.

Smurfit Kappa says it is buying Verzuolo, a containerboard business in northern Italy, for a cash consideration of €360 million. The Verzuolo mill owned by the Burgo Group, is situated close to the port of Savona in the northwest of Italy. The PM9 machine was newly constructed in 2002 and converted into a 600,000 tonne capacity recycled containerboard machine in 2019.

Avery Dennison announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Vestcom, a privately held market-leading provider of pricing and branded labeling solutions at the shelf-edge for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, for $1.45 billion in a cash transaction, subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments.

Rayonier Inc. has sold the rights to manage two timber funds (Fund III and Fund IV) that were previously managed by its Olympic Resource Management (ORM) subsidiary, as well as its co-investment stake in both funds, to BTG Pactual's Timberland Investment Group (TIG) for an aggregate purchase price prior to closing costs of $35.9 million. The transaction will be reflected in third quarter financial results.