ABH (TSX, NYSE)
$ US
MONTREAL, April 10 /CNW Telbec/ - AbitibiBowater today announced that it
has completed the sale of its Snowflake, Arizona, assets for a purchase price
of $161 million to a subsidiary of Catalyst Paper Corporation (TSX: CTL). The
facility has an annual production capacity of approximately 375,000 tonnes of
newsprint.
This sale was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice in order to
comply with the requirements set for approval of the
Abitibi-Consolidated/Bowater combination. AbitibiBowater plans to use the
proceeds from this sale for general corporate purposes.
AbitibiBowater produces a wide range of newsprint, commercial printing
papers, market pulp and wood products. It is the eighth largest publicly
traded pulp and paper manufacturer in the world. Following the required
divestiture agreed to with the U.S. Department of Justice, AbitibiBowater will
own or operate 27 pulp and paper facilities and 35 wood products facilities
located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Korea.
Marketing its products in more than 90 countries, AbitibiBowater is also among
the world's largest recyclers of newspapers and magazines, and has more
third-party certified sustainable forest land than any other company in the
world. AbitibiBowater's shares trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the
New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Forward-Looking Statements
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Statements in this news release that are not reported financial results
or other historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They include,
for example, statements about our planned use of proceeds from the sale of the
Snowflake mill. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as the words "plans", "will", "could",
"expect", "believe", "anticipate", and other terms with similar meaning
indicating possible future events or actions or potential impact on the
business or stockholders of AbitibiBowater. These forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance. They are based on management's
assumptions, beliefs and expectations, all of which involve a number of
business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
our expectations are listed from time to time in AbitibiBowater's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities, including those factors contained in the Company's Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year-ended December 31, 2007, and the Company's
registration statement on Form S-3 filed on October 29, 2007, under the
caption "Risk Factors". All forward-looking statements in this news release
are expressly qualified by information contained in the Company's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities. AbitibiBowater disclaims any obligation to update or revise these
forward-looking statements.
