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INDUSTRY
NEWS
CARAUSTAR
INDUSTRIES INC.,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA said it has completed the purchase of
remaining equity in Caraustar Northwest, LLC, Tacoma, Washington
from Caraustar's venture partner Paccess, Portland, Oregon.
The Tacoma facility, which manufactures tubes, cores, and
edge protectors, and performs custom slitting for customers
on the West Coast, will become part of the Caraustar Industrial
& Consumer Products Group. This operation complements
the Northwest paper mill that Caraustar acquired from Smurfit-Stone
Container Corp. (SSCC) in September 2002.
In other
Caraustar news: The Halifax paperboard mill, Roanoke Rapids,
North Carolina, which has been idle since mid-2001, has
been permanently closed. Carolina Converting, Inc. (CCI),
Fayetteville, North Carolina is being consolidated and relocated
in recognition of the trend toward offshore sourcing of
various specialty products, such as board games and puzzles.
The Ashland, Ohio carton facility is being restructured
to serve a smaller, more focused carton market.
CARTER
HOLT HARVEY's Kinleith pulp and paper mill on New
Zealand's North Island was down for three days after mill
workers went on strike beginning Friday, January 17, according
to a report by Bloomberg. The New Zealand Employment Court
ordered the workers to return to work and the mill resumed
full production. CHH is 50.5% owned by International Paper
Co. Workers were reportedly protesting job cuts and the lack
of progress in wage talks, according to the Bloomberg report.
INTERNATIONAL
PAPER (IP), Stamford, Connecticut, USA announced
Executive Vice President David Oskin will leave the company.
Oskin has been with IP for more than 27 years. Contributing
especially in the areas of labor, people development, and
sales and marketing, he served with distinction as CEO of
Carter Holt Harvey, and most recently has led IP's packaging
group.
INTERSTATE
RESOURCES, INC. (IRI), Arlington, Virginia, USA
has announced personnel changes. Jeff Coleman is now the vice
president of the container division. In his new position,
Jeff will be responsible for the operating performance of
IRI's container businesses: Interstate Container Lowell, Massachusetts;
Interstate Container, Reading, Pennsylvania; Interstate Corrpack
in Maryland; Interstate Container in Miami, Florida; Interstate
Container, Brunswick, New Jersey; and the division departments
for facilities, production, and sales and marketing. Narayanaswamy
"Ramki" Ramakrishnan rejoined IRI as project manager
in the mill division. Ramki will be responsible for project
assignments at Interstate Paper (IPC), IRI's kraft linerboard
mill in Riceboro, Georgia. In addition to supporting ongoing
projects at IPC, Ramki will lead Interstate's shoe press investment
slated for Spring 2004.
STORA
ENSO, Helsinki, Finland, has signed a new EUR 2.5
billion (US$ 2.65 billion) revolving credit facility agreement
with a group of 21 banks. The facility, which has a maturity
of five years, is for general corporate purposes, including
the refinancing of existing syndicated facilities amounting
to EUR 1.6 billion (US$ 1.7 billion). The syndication was
significantly oversubscribed and the facility size was increased
from EUR 2.0 billion (US$ 2.12 billion) to EUR 2.5 billion
(US$ 2.65 billion). Mandated Lead Arrangers for the transaction
are ABN Amro Bank N.V, Barclays Capital, Crédit Agricole
Indosuez and Nordea. Banks were invited to join the facility
as Arrangers (EUR 150 million) (US$ 159 million), Senior Lead
Managers (EUR 75 million) (US$ 79.5 million), and Lead Managers
(EUR 50 million) (US$ 53 million). The transaction significantly
reduces the number of Stora Enso's banking relationships,
but at the same time strengthens and develops the relationships
with core banks.
The other banks joining the syndicate are: Arrangers: Bank
of America N.A, BNP Paribas, Citibank International plc, Commerzbank
AG, Danske Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, ING Group,
Handelsbanken, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda
Banken AB, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd and UBS Warburg.
Senior Lead Managers: KBC Bank NV and Okobank Osuuspankkien
Keskuspankki Oyj. Lead Managers: Merrill Lynch Capital Markets
Bank Ltd, Morgan Stanley and Sampo Bank plc.
WOMEN
IN PACKAGING, INC. (WMPKG), Kennesaw, Georgia,
USA, a packaging association for women, has assembled a team
of professionals to form a best practices committee aimed
at benchmarking programs for the organization's continued
success. By utilizing the WMPKG network, which is now ten
years old, the committee will be able to establish relationships
with senior practitioners around Diversity Best Practices
and to gain the best input through networking. The following
people have joined the WMPKG Best Practices Committee: Astra-Zeneca,
Biomeriuex, Carnaud Metalbox/Crown Cork & Seal, Coca-Cola,
Cordis, Creative Retail Packaging, CSG, Design & Source
Productions, Dow, J&J, Eastman Kodak, Ford, Georgia-Pacific,
Inland, Kraft, L Barron & Associates, Inc., MeadWestvaco,
PCA, Rock-Tenn, Sonoco, Stratis, TetraPak and Universal Folding
Box.
NEWS
FROM TAPPI
Five
Elected to TAPPI Board of Directors
TAPPI
members elected five individuals to the TAPPI Board of Directors
for the 2003-2005 term:
Richard J. Croker, Georgia-Pacific
Celso E. B. Foelkel, ABTCP
John E. Hanby, Washington Pulp & Paper Foundation
Michael E. Haas, Longview Fibre Company
Jonathan C. Kerr, Andritz Incorporated
Kathleen
M. Bennett, Georgia-Pacific will serve as President and
Willis J. Potts, Inland Paperboard & Packaging Inc.
as Vice President.
These
TAPPI officers and directors will begin their terms of office
at the TAPPI Annual Meeting, March 4, 2003 in Orlando, Florida.
NEW
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH INNOVATION
2003
TAPPI International Corrugated Containers Conference and
CorrExpo
October 12-15, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas,
Texas
HELP
SHAPE THE FUTURE OF TAPPI CONFERENCE PROGRAMS
Professionals in the converting areas of the corrugated
industry are well aware of the changes affecting this global
industry. TAPPI's Corrugated Containers Division is constantly
looking for new ways to help members meet businesses challenges
in a timely manner. To do so, TAPPI is seeking input from
our converters on the topics for discussion and presentation
of future results-oriented events, and on other member services.
SEEKING
INPUT FROM CORRUGATORS
The Corrugated Containers Division is, as always, looking
for volunteers willing to share expertise and real-life
experiences in forum roundtable and panel discussions, tutorials,
case studies, future trends and traditional technical paper
presentations. Those interested in helping to shape TAPPI's
corrugated products and services by offering ideas on topics,
or by contributing to the technical program, please contact
technical program chairman Thomas Fullove at (513) 489-8700
or by e-mail: tfullove@gbp.com
INVITATION
TO PRESENT:
2003 INTERNATIONAL CORRUGATED CONTAINERS
CONFERENCE & CORREXPO
Authors interested in presenting at the 2003 International
Corrugated Container Conference should complete an abstract
form on line at the following direct link: should visit
http://www.tappi.org/tappi/abstracts/
to fill out an abstract form. If you have any questions,
please contact Kathy Betts, Corrugated Packaging Manager.
She may be reached by phone at 1 770-209-7418,or by e-mail
at kbetts@tappi.org
Title
and abstract submittals are due February 21, 2003, and presentation/manuscripts
are due August 1, 2003.
For
more information about the conference, contact the TAPPI
Member Services at 1 800 332-8686 (U.S.), 1 800 446-9431
(Canada), or +1 770 446-1400 (international) or visit www.tappi.org.
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