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Resolute in talks to sell shuttered Fort Frances paper mill

December 18, 2018 – Resolute Forest Products is in talks with Repap Resources Group, a private investment firm, to negotiate the sale of Resolute’s Fort Frances, Ontario pulp and paper mill, which closed in 2014. 

According to a release issued by the Town of Fort Frances on its Facebook page, Repap aims to restart the mill in 2019 to produce packaging grades (sack kraft papers).

“We look forward to assisting Repap Resources Group in their bid to purchase the Fort Frances paper mill,” says June Caul, mayor of Fort Frances. “Returning 263 new jobs in the Rainy River District is remarkable. It will not only reunite families, [it] will also provide long term opportunities for our youth. We thank Repap Resources Group for their interest in investing in the future of Fort Frances.”

Repap Resources Group is partnering with 4Front Capital Partners Inc., an investment bank in Toronto. Repap’s management team consists of professionals with more than 180 years of combined senior executive experience in the pulp and paper industries.

Resolute Forest Products has been heating the mill since its closure at the request of the Ontario government, and has been actively seeking buyers.

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To reopen the manufacturing facility, Repap will also have to successfully negotiate access to the fibre currently assigned to the Fort Frances mill from the local Crossroute Forest.

In 2016, Resolute identified enough fibre was available to operate the Fort Frances mill during negotiations with another potential buyer.

Fort Frances is located in Northwestern Ontario, approximately 350 km east of Thunder Bay.