<B>Abitibi Consolidated Nears Acquisition of Donohue</B>

Abitibi-Consolidated announced that the respective waiting periods under each of the Hart-Scott- Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the Competition Act in connection with its previously announced tender offers for all of the outstanding shares of Donohue have expired.

Accordingly, assuming all other conditions are satisfied, including those related to Canadian regulatory review, Abitibi-Consolidated will be in a position to take up and pay for the shares of Donohue on April 18, 2000.

Once the transaction is complete, the new Abitibi-Consolidated will have ownership interests in 29 paper mills in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Asia (including its one-third interest in the Pan Asia Paper Company) and in 24 sawmills and a market pulp mill. A-C will market 6.3 million metric tons of newsprint, 1.8 million tons of value-added papers, 444,000 metric tons of high-quality market pulp, and 2.2 billion board feet of lumber.