Will there be layoffs at harmac

Whocares wrote:

The Harmac sight would be a great place to put up condo's. After the superfund cleanup of course.

Remember what I said.Don't get too cockey!!!!!!!!

Pulp R us

more trouble wrote:

Canfor in Mackenzie shutting down on Thursday. So much for the chip agreement. Not looking good, even if the pulp mill starts up, doesn't look like there is going to be any fibre available.

" So much for chip agreement " And Harmac employees want to buy the mill on a chip agreement (Western forest Products). How good is that chip agreement.

lumberbaron

Joined: Apr 10, 2008

Comments: 201

Prince George, Canada

more trouble wrote:

Canfor in Mackenzie shutting down on Thursday. So much for the chip agreement. Not looking good, even if the pulp mill starts up, doesn't look like there is going to be any fibre available.

http://www.canfor.com/_resources/news/2008/N0...

Canfor's press release states that the production lost from shutting down Mackenzie will be picked up at other mills.

I wonder now if any potential buyers for Mackenzie are still on the hook with their bids.

Whos next

Mission, Canada

lumberbaron wrote:

<quoted text>
http://www.canfor.com/_resources/news/2008/N0...
Canfor's press release states that the production lost from shutting down Mackenzie will be picked up at other mills.
I wonder now if any potential buyers for Mackenzie are still on the hook with their bids.

If someone buys Mackenzie before the contract expires, Canfor is obligated to supply chips even if the truck them from elsewhere. Usually this forces them to keep the mill running. Also they have filled up their yard with chips because P&T isn't taking them. Might just be waiting till P&T goes or it's a power move to scare bidders and allow them out of their contract. Not much left to close in Mackenzie now.

ripped off

All I can say is soon we will know are fate, good or bad we all will know.

lumberbaron

Joined: Apr 10, 2008

Comments: 201

Prince George, Canada

Whos next wrote:

<quoted text>
If someone buys Mackenzie before the contract expires, Canfor is obligated to supply chips even if the truck them from elsewhere. Usually this forces them to keep the mill running. Also they have filled up their yard with chips because P&T isn't taking them. Might just be waiting till P&T goes or it's a power move to scare bidders and allow them out of their contract. Not much left to close in Mackenzie now.

Sounds like the power move, judging by Canfor's statement that the production will be transfered to other mills

Flash

Judged:

Our outbreaks of " We'll Buy the mill" are pretty much a pile of crap. Not too many of us are going to put good money after bad. The mill is a dead horse. It has been dead for about the last 10 years. Sure it could make money, but what it would take to get it going again makes it all but impossible to make a profit within the time frame that it would take most of the guys putting in their $25,000. What with all the environmental stuff, cleanup, etc...etc... Most of the guys saying that they would put in the $25,000 are close to retirement or are already able to be retired. They are NOT going to put their money into a non-profit game. Get real people, the jig is up... we are done.

The Don

concerned no more wrote:

goes to show that P&T drove all three mills into the ground so far that no one wants them!

Hey Pal I saw a High level corporate memo from Catalyst headoffice 3 years ago stating that no major expenditures world be taking place at Crofton or Elk Falls Kraft mills and Recovery Boilers? How much has Catalyst put nback into those mills.... Last time I checked Catalyst's big expenditure was share offering to buy a US recycle mill. You better not buy that "benz" just yet!!!

pulp lemming

Portland, OR

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2...

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 1:54 PM PDT
Pope & Talbot mill auctioned againPortland Business Journal
For the second time in a week, the former Pope & Talbot Inc. pulp mill in Halsey has been sold at auction.
The mill was auctioned last week as part of the insolvent Portland-based company's Chapter 7 liquidation. New York-based Ableco Finance LLC -- one of Pope & Talbot's two largest creditors -- won with a $24 million bid.
However, one of the losing bidders, James Hardie Building Products Inc., objected to the process. Bankruptcy trustee George L. Miller reopened the auction Monday.
The new winning bid -- a cash bid of $31.15 million -- came from Minnesota-based Wayzata Investments.
The deal is scheduled to close by Friday, according to John T. Carroll, counsel for Miller. The bankruptcy court could approve the deal Wednesday.
James Hardie Building Products also entered a backup bid during the Monday auction, according to Carroll.
United Steelworkers, which represents about 140 of the Halsey mill's 180 employees, is challenging the new bid, said Ernie Lamoureux, a union representative.
United Steelworkers on Saturday had ratified a labor agreement with Ableco, which Lamoureux said had planned to reopen the idle mill on June 16.
He said officials with Wayzata Investments indicated they would not recognize the union. He said efforts by United Steelworkers to discuss the matter were rebuffed.
Neither Miller, nor officials with Wayzata Investments or Ableco could be reached for comment.

pulp lemming

Portland, OR

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story...

Quick sale possible for idled mills

Gordon Hamilton
Vancouver Sun

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Bids for purchasing bankrupt Pope & Talbot's two B.C. pulp mills and solitary sawmill closed today, marking the end of a rushed sales process to find new owners for the mothballed operations and the 1,050 people who used to work in them.

The pulp mills at Mackenzie and Harmac, which could pose environmental risks if they are not maintained, are being kept from falling into disrepair by skeleton crews during the speedy sales process.

Receiver Mike Vermette, of PricewaterhouseCoopers would not disclose how many bids have been received so far but said if clean offers come in, he expects the sale or sales could be completed quickly.

The venerable Portland forest company sought creditor protection last October and an initial sales process was undertaken. After an agreement to purchase the mills by Asia Pup & Paper fell through in early May, Pope & Talbot's cash was exhausted, prompting the company being put into receivership.

A quick sales process was then launched after Pope & Talbot's creditors agreed to pay the ongoing costs of the mills sitting idle.

Details on the sales process are to be laid out Friday in B.C. Supreme Court.

At least two groups have stated they are interested in putting bids on the weakest of the three mills, the Harmac mill near Nanaimo.

Financier Richard Bassett and a group of Harmac workers who are putting up their own cash, have both said they are interested.

"We are going to submit an offer for Harmac but it won't be much because we think that it has a significant negative value," Bassett said Tuesday in an email. "In my view the liabilities outweigh the assets and I don't think that I should pay to clean up someone else's problem. I think that's why there are so few other bidders looking at this property."

At least six bids have been received for the Fort St. James sawmill, which, under the failed APP purchase agreement, was being sold for one sixth of the value Pope & Talbot paid for it three years ago.

The Mackenzie mill, the better performing asset of the two pulp operations, is expected to generate as much interest as the sawmill.

Worker Rick Berry, one of 25 workers employed in the clean-up and maintenance of the mill, said at least two "substantial offers" are believed to be on the table. He said the maintenance program has kept the mill's sensitive equipment and environmental controls ready for a quick start-up.

"We could be up and running again in three weeks," he said.

A fourth Pope & Talbot asset, a pulp mill at Halsey, Oregon, was auctioned off Monday in the U.S. to Wayzata Equity Partners, a Wisconsin-based private equity fund. Wayzata, with over $5 billion in assets under management, seeks out undervalued investments. Wayzata is not believed to be bidding on the B.C. assets.

Not Good

Courtenay, Canada

Judged:

pulp lemming wrote:

http://www.bizjournals.com/por tland/stories/2008/06/09/daily 16.html
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 1:54 PM PDT
Pope & Talbot mill auctioned againPortland Business Journal
For the second time in a week, the former Pope & Talbot Inc. pulp mill in Halsey has been sold at auction.
The mill was auctioned last week as part of the insolvent Portland-based company's Chapter 7 liquidation. New York-based Ableco Finance LLC -- one of Pope & Talbot's two largest creditors -- won with a $24 million bid.
However, one of the losing bidders, James Hardie Building Products Inc., objected to the process. Bankruptcy trustee George L. Miller reopened the auction Monday.
The new winning bid -- a cash bid of $31.15 million -- came from Minnesota-based Wayzata Investments.
The deal is scheduled to close by Friday, according to John T. Carroll, counsel for Miller. The bankruptcy court could approve the deal Wednesday.
James Hardie Building Products also entered a backup bid during the Monday auction, according to Carroll.
United Steelworkers, which represents about 140 of the Halsey mill's 180 employees, is challenging the new bid, said Ernie Lamoureux, a union representative.
United Steelworkers on Saturday had ratified a labor agreement with Ableco, which Lamoureux said had planned to reopen the idle mill on June 16.
He said officials with Wayzata Investments indicated they would not recognize the union. He said efforts by United Steelworkers to discuss the matter were rebuffed.
Neither Miller, nor officials with Wayzata Investments or Ableco could be reached for comment.

Union busting.

“OH NO!”

Joined: Feb 6, 2008

Comments: 71

Mackenzie's last mill shuts down.

http://tinyurl.com/5nlfnt

“OH NO!”

Joined: Feb 6, 2008

Comments: 71

Bidders vie for harmac
At least two groups have submitted offers to buy mill
Robert Barron
Daily News

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

There may be as many as three offers to take over Nanaimo's idle Harmac pulp mill.

Harmac's workers and managers were expected to hand in their business plan to take over the facility to receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers by Tuesday's deadline.

And despite getting cold feet on Monday, the Zurich-based Charlestown Investments group also decided to submit a bid at the last minute.

Speculation in the industry suggests there may also be an unidentified third bidder.

Richard Bassett, a partner in Charlestown Investments, said the group "suddenly embraced" submitting an offer on Harmac late Tuesday with the deadline looming.

"We'd come pretty far in a short time so we thought we'd take a shake at it, although we don't expect we'll win," he said.

"The workers and management have put a lot of work into their business plan and they have a lot more information on Harmac than us because most of them have worked at the mill for many years. We expect they have more confidence in their bid than ours because we have more questions than answers so we didn't bid very aggressively."

The winning offer, if one is accepted, could be known as early as today. Calls to PricewaterhouseCoopers were not immediately returned.

While Harmac's workers are keeping quiet on the details of their plan, it's expected each worker would invest up to $25,000 to get the mill up and running again and to attract further investment.

Bassett wouldn't release details of Charlestown Investment's bid either, but he said Friday that the group was considering investing an initial $150 million to upgrade the mill and introducing new product lines before expanding the operation to include green energy and ethanol production.

concerned no more

Crofton, Canada

Way to jump to conclusions! I DO NOT work for Catalyst I just live in Crofton (I was a HARMAC emp!)

The Don wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey Pal I saw a High level corporate memo from Catalyst headoffice 3 years ago stating that no major expenditures world be taking place at Crofton or Elk Falls Kraft mills and Recovery Boilers? How much has Catalyst put nback into those mills.... Last time I checked Catalyst's big expenditure was share offering to buy a US recycle mill. You better not buy that "benz" just yet!!!

“OH NO!”

Joined: Feb 6, 2008

Comments: 71

Lamoureux said Wayzata's winning bid is "kind of one of our worst fears."

"They'll start hiring who they want under the terms they can set up," he said.

He said journeyman workers may search for employment elsewhere if, for example, they have to start accruing vacation time anew.

Despite that, the union will still urge its members to apply for jobs with Wayzata. He said that if a majority of the employees hired by Wayzata are union members, they can demand recognition and a seat at the negotiating table.

http://tinyurl.com/6o7nuq

“OH NO!”

Joined: Feb 6, 2008

Comments: 71