PaperAge Magazine

Flambeau River Papers Assets Sold at Auction for $2.2 Million to Industrial Redevelopment Firm

Flambeau River Papers

Nov. 6, 2019 - The Mayor of the City of Park Falls (Wisconsin) confirmed to local media that Niagara Worldwide was the highest bidder at an auction that took place on Nov. 3 and has agreed to purchase the assets of Flambeau River Papers for $2.2 million.

“From my understanding, if everything goes right, November 13, Flambeau River Papers will, I assume, cease to exist, and they will become part of Niagara Worldwide,” said Mayor Michael Bablick.

Headquartered in Niagara, Wisconsin, Niagara Worldwide describes itself as a ". . . full service property development company that educates, trains, and invests in local, state and regional resources, inspiring community growth through the re-purposing of idle assets, revitalizing area economics."

In early October, the proposed sale of Flambeau River Papers to a newly formed company, Element Ventures, fell through and the assets of the mill then headed towards a liquidation sale.

Rebecca DeMarb, the court-appointed receiver of the mill, said she was disappointed when a deal couldn't be worked out with Element Ventures, who had intended to operate the mill.

"We did everything we could think of to close on the sale of the Flambeau River Paper assets as an operating entity — most recently with securing an extension for the sale approval with Element Ventures. But the realities of where we find ourselves including the continued wet lap market and the fact that $41 million dollars in claims have been filed in this case, approximately $13 million of them secured claims, made it so we just could not get the deal closed as was approved by the court,” DeMarb explained.

In a recorded phone call with local media, Mayor Bablick emphasized, “It's important for everybody in the community to be able to move on and Niagara Worldwide is the… are going to be the new owners sometime next week. And we intend to cooperate and aid them in any way possible to restore operations, or portions of operations to our neighbors.”

SOURCES: Local media reports in Wisconsin