BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The sale of the Old Town Fuel and Fiber mill was finalized Friday, bringing good news for the 200 or so out of work employees of the mill.
Expera Old Town, a company formed by Wisconsin-based Expera Specialty Solutions, has bought the mill out of bankruptcy for $10.5 million.
When Expera reopens the mill, most likely before the end of the year, the workers will have their jobs back.
The judge called this sale an "extraordinary accomplishment." It is a deal the buyer, the bankruptcy trustee and union representatives are all happy with, at a time when Maine's paper industry is struggling.
"This is a very, very good day for the employees in Old Town," Duane Lugdon, staff representative for the United Steelworkers Union, said. "They've been waiting for some time now, trying to hold their lives together, and this obviously is very, very good news for them."
Expera has agreed to pay $3.2 million to a group of secured debtors over time. Of that, $800,000 will go to mill workers for accrued and unused vacation and paid time off, and the city of Old Town will receive around $1.6 million in back taxes. The rest is for mechanics liens, the Maine DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Overall, trustee Pat Perrino said he is satisfied with how quickly they were able to seal this deal.
"It took us 25 days for us to turn this thing around, and I'm so glad and happy for the people of Old Town, that we saved them 200 jobs," he said.
Red Shield Acquisition is selling the mill with millions of dollars of debt, and many of the unsecured creditors will never see that money, as only $300,000 has been carved out for them.
Expera's plan is to take the pulp made in Old Town and send it back to their mills in Wisconsin. They make specialty paper, such as microwave popcorn bags and candy rappers.
They are confident there will always be demand for these types of products, unlike books and newsprint, which has suffered because of the switch to digital.
On a related note, the sale of the Great Northern Paper mill in East Millinocket was also finalized Friday.
