Enron Selling Quebec Mill, Recycling Plants

Enron announced plans to sell its Stadacona Papers assets, the Quebec firm's president said earlier this week.

Enron bought Stadacona Papers from Japanese group Daishowa in April 2001. The acquisition of the mill went along with the company’s move to grow its business in the newsprint and paper industry. The company also acquired the assets of Garden State Paper, a recycled newsprint mill in New Jersey.

That facility has since closed.

Stadacona employs some 1,150 people in the Quebec City area. Its assets include a 550,000 metric ton newsprint paper plant, a paper recycling plant, a 50-million board foot sawmill and timberland in Maine.

Stadacona president Andre Sarrasin told Reuters that a group of creditors managing Enron's assets currently has the mandate to auction viable assets of the now bankrupt firm.

"We have told 14 pulp and paper companies that we were interested in putting Stadacona Papers up for auction," he said. The firms include Tembec Inc. and Kruger Inc.

Sarrasin said Stadacona hoped to conclude the sale this fall, but he declined to comment about the assets' value or expectations for any bids.

If no satisfactory offers emerge, the creditors could sell the Quebec assets to Op.Co.Energy, a new firm to be launched that will consolidate Enron's viable assets, he said. Reuters