AbitibiBowater Changes Name to Resolute Forest Products

Montreal-based paper company AbitibiBowater has announced that it will change its name to Resolute Forest Products (or Produits forestiers Résolu in French) as of Nov. 7, 2011.

According to AbibitiBowater, the new Resolute Forest Products' logo “represents the forest in which the company works, the paper and lumber products it manufactures and the dynamic nature of the organization. Through the use of green, the design also depicts the company's determination to be a profitable business, committed to sustainability.”"We are changing our name to Resolute Forest Products to better reflect the fundamental characteristics of the company we are today, including our determination, strength and resolve to be a profitable, sustainable organization," says Richard Garneau, president and CEO. "With our competitive cost structure, diversified revenue base and strong balance sheet, we are well-positioned for the long term."

Beginning in April 2011, employees were invited to suggest a new name for the company. An internal selection committee and the executive team chose Resolute Forest Products out of approximately 1,400 employee submissions.

"This identity change serves as an opportunity to reposition the company and to redefine ourselves with customers, shareholders and the communities in which we live and work," Garneau says.

Nov. 7, the company will begin using Resolute Forest Products and related visual identity on its marketing materials, website, signage and other communications.

While the company will begin doing business as Resolute Forest Products as of Nov. 7, AbitibiBowater Inc. and its subsidiaries will not change their legal names until the company obtains shareholder approval as required by law. The company will seek formal shareholder approval at its 2012 annual general meeting.

For customers, suppliers and other stakeholders with whom the company interacts, AbitibiBowater says little will change beyond how it refers to itself and its products. It will be "business as usual" with respect to invoicing, payments, contracts, company stocks and stock market listings, according to AbitibiBowater, which says it will “work to ensure the transition to the new identity is as smooth and seamless as possible for all its stakeholders.”

AbitibiBowater produces a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. The company owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 24 wood products facilities located in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in nearly 90 countries, AbitibiBowater also has third-party certified 100 percent of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards.