AbitibiBowater U.K. Subsidiary Files for Protection

AbitibiBowater announced that its Bridgewater Paper Co. Ltd. subsidiary, located in the United Kingdom, has filed for administration in the U.K. The subsidiary’s board of directors made the decision after all other options to keep the United Kingdom operations solvent was exhausted.

The Bridgewater facility operates two machines and produces around 235,000 metric tons of newsprint a year. The mill has laid off more than 100 people.

The AbitibiBowater creditor protection proceedings and the BPCL filing for administration are separate and distinct legal processes. The possible outcomes of AbitibiBowater's creditor protection filings will not necessarily reflect on the future of BPCL in its administration filing, and vice versa. AbitibiBowater's ongoing efforts to restructure and emerge from its creditor protection filings continue to progress in the normal course.

"We recognize the impact the filing has on our U.K. employees and business partners; however, these actions were necessary and represent the best course of action going forward," says David Paterson, AbitibiBowater president and CEO.

Throughout the BPCL administration filing, AbitibiBowater will help ensure European customers continue to receive quality products and service, free of business interruptions. "We remain committed to building on our many decades of sales into the international marketplace, and Europe is strategic to the Company's current and future sales efforts," added Paterson.