Verso eyeing recycled-content boost in Minnesota

Papermaker’s update to shareholders indicates board and kraft paper capacity at Minnesota mill could more than triple.


Miamisburg, Ohio-based papermaker Verso Corp., in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing made in January 2020, says it is considering a dramatic increase in recycled-content board and kraft paper production at its mill in Duluth, Minnesota.

In the Verso SEC filing section on its mill strategy, the company says it has “started a conversion into recycled packaging and kraft paper grades, of which we will be producing 90,000 tons [per] year starting in January 2020. A full conversion to make 375,000 tons is being considered.”

In 2018, Verso undertook a mill conversion project in Jay, Maine, at its Androscoggin mill. In November 2019, however, Verso announced its intention to sell that mill, along with another in Wisconsin, to Pennsylvania-based Pixelle Specialty Solutions (the former Glatfelter Specialty Papers).

The conversion project in Maine and the sale of the two mills to Pixelle have led to a proxy fight for Verso’s current executive team and board of directors. New York-based Blue Wolf Capital Advisors and Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings LLC have been filing suits and issuing press releases calling for changes to Verso’s board of directors.

In one of those news releases, the two equity firms point to “concerns about the significant investment the [Verso] board approved in 2018 to convert the A3 paper machine at Androscoggin to enable it to produce containerboard and other packaging grades.” Atlas and Blue Wolf also refer to the Stevens Point, Wisconsin, mill being sold as the “crown jewel” of Verso.

Since that sale was announced, Verso has made changes to some executive positions and added new board members. The two capital firms, however, have continued to press their legal case.

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