Verso completes $1.4B NewPage acquisition

The former Dayton-area headquarters of NewPage Holdings Inc. will still see “substantial employment” after that company’s acquisition Wednesday by Tennessee-based Verso Paper Corp., a Verso spokeswoman said.

On Wednesday, Verso announced its completed $1.4 billion purchase of NewPage, a locally based paper producer with about 300 employees in Miami Twp.

Verso officials said there will be “changes” at the former NewPage facility at 8540 Gander Creek Drive to be announced in the coming weeks.

“The Miamisburg office has been the headquarters of NewPage. It will continue to be a business center with Verso, as well, so we expect that there will continue to be substantial employment here,” the spokeswoman said.

Verso plans to consolidate its existing West Chester Twp. office and the NewPage Dayton-area office into a single “Ohio Operations Center” located in the former NewPage facility.

With the completion of the transaction, Verso will have about $3.5 billion in annual sales and 5,800 employees in eight paper mills across six states.

On Wednesday, the company also changed its name to Verso Corp. to reflect plans to broaden its business platform and seek alternative revenue streams to augment its core printing papers, specialty papers and pulp segments, officials said.

Verso’s existing senior leadership team in Memphis, Tenn. will continue to lead the company.

Robert M. Amen, formerly a NewPage director, was elected to Verso’s board of directors.

In a related transaction, NewPage on Wednesday completed the $74 million sale of its paper mill in Biron, Wisc., and its pulp and paper mill in Rumford, Maine, to Catalyst Paper Operations Inc. of Canada.

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