Cascades Inc announced recently that its Norampac division will invest in Greenpac Mill LLC (Greenpac), a corporation created with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (the Caisse), Jamestown Container and one other industry partner, for the purpose of constructing and operating a state of the art containerboard mill to be located in New York State.
The Greenpac mill will be constructed for a total cost of US$430 million on property located adjacent to an existing Norampac facility in Niagara Falls, NY. Greenpac will manufacture a light weight linerboard, made with 100% recycled fibres, on a single machine having a width of 328 inches (8.33 meters) with an annual production capacity of 540,000 short tons. This machine will be one of the largest of its kind in North America.
"The investment that we are announcing today is the result of the combined efforts of Cascades and its partners, and is consistent with our development strategy which aims to position the Company amongst the leaders in terms of productivity and profitability in the packaging and tissue sectors", declared Alain Lemaire, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cascades. "As we have stated in the past, we strongly believe that Cascades' future success will be dependent on our ability to offer high performance innovative products which will better meet the needs of our customers, at a cost that will be amongst the lowest in the industry."
"Moreover, the innovative structure of this partnership will allow us to reach this objective while maintaining the financial flexibility achieved through recent divestitures", added Mr. Lemaire. "We are also confident in regards to industry's mid and long-term perspectives, and we strongly believe that Greenpac will contribute positively to our net profitability once full ramp-up is achieved."
