Closure planned for Katahdin mill
The Katahdin paper mill in East Millinocket currently being eyed by a San Francisco investment group will close in two months if the deal fails to go through.
Brookfield Asset Management, parent company of Katahdin Paper Co. LLC, today plans to issue a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice, a federal requirement that provides a 60-day warning of an impending closure, spokesman Andrew Willis told the Bangor Daily News. He did not say why the mill, which employs about 450 people, is scheduled to close. But Meriturn Partners LLC, which last week signed a letter of intent to buy the mill and its shuttered sister mill in Millinocket, said the East Millinocket facility has not made money in several years. Duane Lugdon, a United Steelworkers Union international representative, told the paper that Brookfield intends to leave the papermaking business and focus on its energy assets.
The 60-day WARN period expires April 22, while the deadline for Meriturn to finalize its deal to buy the two mills is April 29, according to the paper. Should Meriturn buy the mills, it could restore as many as 150 jobs at the Millinocket facility, which closed in 2008.
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