Domtar shares surge after producer acknowledges talks with Paper Excellence

FORT MILL, S.C. — Domtar Inc. shares surged to a near two-year high after the pulp and paper producer acknowledged it’s in talks with B.C.’s Paper Excellence about a possible merger or sale of the company.

Shares of the South Carolina and Montreal-based company climbed $8.27 or 16.6 per cent at $57.97 in midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Domtar says the discussions may or may not result in an agreement.

Richmond, B.C.-based Paper Excellence is a privately held company with $2.4 billion in annual sales from the production of more than 2.8 million tonnes of paper at seven manufacturing facilities in Canada. It has 2,800 employees.

Domtar is one of North America’s largest makers of uncoated freesheet or copier paper and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of pulp. It has about 6,600 employees in 50 countries and annual sales of about US$3.7 billion.

It has 13 pulp and paper mills and 10 manufacturing converting facilities with annual capacity to make about 2.7 million tons of paper and 1.5 million air-dried tonnes of market pulp.

The company sold its personal care business in March to affiliates of American Industrial Partners for US$920 million.

Founded in 1848 in England to make railway ties and wharf pilings, it operated a coal tar distillation plant in Nova Scotia in 1903, became public in 1929 and took on the Domtar name in 1965.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2021.

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