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RESTRUCTURING: CASCADE TO ROLL 3 SUBSIDIARIES INTO PARENT

MONTREAL, QC — Cascades Inc. has unveiled a plan to turn the thinly traded, minority-held shares of three subsidiaries it controls — Rolland Inc., Paperboard Industries International Inc. and Perkin…

MONTREAL, QC — Cascades Inc. has unveiled a plan to turn the thinly traded, minority-held shares of three subsidiaries it controls — Rolland Inc., Paperboard Industries International Inc. and Perkins Papers Ltd. — into common shares of the parent company. Cascades said it will issue 14.3 million new shares, diluting the stake held by the founding Lemaire family to 38% from 46%. “We feel we will still be able to give direction to the company and the company will now be able to grow,” said Laurent Lemaire, Cascades president. During the past three years, the return on equity has been less than 10%. Cascades is proposing that shareholders exchange each publicly held share of:

Rolland for 0.73 Cascades shares.

Paperboard Industries for 0.24 Cascades shares.

Perkins Papers for 0.60 Cascades shares.

The exchange ratios reflect average share prices over the past three months, said Lemaire. The all-stock deal, with a paper value of $112 million, “requires no financial leveraging nor cash payments [from Cascades],” he noted. Approval votes by a majority of each company’s minority shareholders are scheduled to be held in September.