Catalyst Paper
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| Catalyst Paper Corp | |
| Image:CatalystPaperLogo.png | |
| Type of Company | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Key people | Russell J. Horner, President & CEO Keith Purchase, Chairman |
| Products | Pulp & Paper |
| Employees | 3,800 |
| Website | www.catalystpaper.com/ |
Catalyst Paper is a Canadian paper manufacturer. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company produces paper and pulp for commercial printers, publishers and paper manufacturers in North America, Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Europe. Catalyst is western North America’s largest mechanical paper producer, the region’s only producer of lightweight coated paper and the world’s largest manufacturer of paper for telephone and other directories. The company also makes market kraft pulp and operates Western Canada’s largest paper recycling facility.
[edit] Divisions
Catalyst owns a pulp and paper mills in Campbell River (Elk Falls Division) and Crofton (Crofton Division), and paper mills in Port Alberni (Port Alberni Division) and Powell River (Powell River Division). It also runs a paper de-inking plant in Coquitlam (Paper Recycling Division). Its head office is located in Vancouver.
[edit] History
The main branch of the family tree is British Columbia Forest Products Limited, formed in 1946 as a logging and sawmilling company. With extensive forest operations in British Columbia, BCFP built a solid reputation as a leading wood products company. The company diversified in the early 1950s with expansion into pulp and paper and soon was one of the province's largest integrated forest products companies.
In 1987, Fletcher Challenge Limited of New Zealand, which already owned another BC company, Crown Forest Industries, purchased BCFP. A year later, both companies were merged to form Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited. Gradually, the company began to sharpen its focus on pulp and paper as its core businesses. As a result, it sold its wood products and forest interests to other operators.
In 2000, Norske Skog, a Norwegian paper company, purchased all of Fletcher Challenge's pulp and paper assets, including its majority interest in Fletcher Challenge Canada. That fall, the company changed its name to Norske Skog Canada Limited.
In August 2001, Norske Skog Canada acquired Pacifica Papers. Pacifica was formed in 1998 from the paper assets previously held by MacMillan Bloedel. With the acquisition of Pacifica, which effectively doubled the size of the company, the company assumed the new identity of NorskeCanada.
In December 2003 the company grew once again, with the acquisition of Newstech Recycling. Now Catalyst's Paper Recycling Division, the facility uses old newspapers and magazines to create de-inked pulp that the company uses to manufacture paper products.
In October 2005, shareholders approved a name change, and NorskeCanada became Catalyst Paper Corporation. The company said it chose the new name so it could do business under its own unique identity, one that clearly differentiated it with customers and that accurately reflected its capital structure. The name "Catalyst" was also the name of the company's premium lightweight directory paper.
In February 2006, Norske Skog sold all of its remaining Catalyst shares, ending its association with the company.
