Pacific West Commercial Wins Bid for NewPage Post Hawkesbury

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/48700-pacific-west-wins-bid-buy-idled-newpage-paper-mill

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/48967-no-guarantees-paper-mill

 Ernst & Young, the Monitor of the CCAA proceedings, announced that Stern Partners’ Pacific West Commercial has won the bid to potentially buy the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill, which went into bankruptcy in September.  Four bidders, two of whom were anonymous but purportedly were going to close the mill, were among the finalists.  Both Pacific West Coast and Paper Excellence (and APP company) were understood to be planning to keep the mill, or at least parts of it, operating.  West Coast Commercial, now the sole bidder, has said it will not restart the newsprint paper machine, but plans, pending negotiations with Nova Scotia Power (electricity prices) and unions (labor costs), to run the 400,000 short tons per year Supercalendered PM.  NewPage Port Hawkesbury is asking the governing court, on January 18, to extend the proceedings deadline until March 30 to give the company time to meet the conditions of the sale.  The Natural Resources Minister, Charlie Parker, announced that the province intends to keep the mill ready to restart, which is expected to cost up to $5 million, through March.  It plans to recover the cost through the sale of harvested wood. 

Ronald Stern, the president and founder of Stern Partners, a private BC investment firm, is also the president and CEO of Alberta Newsprint Co. and co-owner of The Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun.  His Belgravia Paper Company owns the former Simpson Paper mill, a coated woodfree producer, in West Linn, Oregon.  Stern Partners, through Belgravia, has been involved in other paper operations in the past, including Pasadena Paper (now closed) and St. Mary’s (now owned by a different investment group and just recently in receivership).  Alberta Newsprint is a running newsprint mill.

Business-to-Business Print Sector Up 4.6%

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120105/MEDIABUSINESS10/301059992/b-to-b-media-sectors-show-revenue-gains-in-q3

As reported by the Business Information Network and released by the American Business Media, B-to-B media grew in the third quarter as compared to the same period last year.  Print increased 4.6% to $5.7 billion, digital jumped 22% to $1.6 billion and trade shows rose 1.1% to $7.7 billion.

Athleta Begins First National Ad Campaign

http://adage.com/article/news/athleta-launches-tagline-national-campaign/231873/

The Gap Inc.’s Athleta, with partner Peterson Milla Hooks, is launching its first national campaign, which will include print, digital, in-store marketing, sponsorships and partnerships.  Kantar Media reported that Athleta spent $400,000 on advertising in 2010 and $7.3 million in the first 10 months of 2011.  The VP of marketing, Tess Roering, said that the 2012 ad budget was larger than last year’s.  The campaign is centered on the tagline “Power to the She.”

manroland Auditor Reports Progress

manroland AG Insolvency Administrator Reports Promising Negotiations: The prospects of a successful investors’ agreement for the insolvent manroland AG have improved further. Auditor Werner Schneider of the law firm of Schneider, Geiwitz & Partner reported conducting numerous negotiations with interested parties in the past few days. “We now have parties seriously interested in all three production sites in Augsburg, Offenbach and Plauen (Germany), with whom we are involved in ongoing negotiations,” Schneider said, elaborating on the current status. The ultimate aim continues to be the selling of key company segments by the end of the current insolvency proceedings on Jan. 31, 2012, in order to ensure continued operations and to save as many jobs as possible. Given the promising interest of potential buyers, this remains a feasible aim.