SP Fiber Technologies LLC (SPFT) has announced that it has successfully acquired substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of SP Newsprint and its subsidiaries in a court-approved sale.

SPFT will relocate its corporate headquarters to its facility in Dublin, GA. The company will operate its mills in Newberg, OR and Dublin as well as its wholly owned subsidiaries SP Recycling Southeast (SPRS) and SP Recycling Northwest (SPRN). Based in Atlanta, SPRS and SPRN are recyclers of recovered paper and other recovered commodities in the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest. The two recycling companies collect, process, and ship high-quality material from 21 processing facilities in nine states.

Jay Gurandiano will serve as chairman of the board, president and CEO. He has held senior management positions at Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation and founded St. Laurent Paperboard, a major specialty packaging paperboard and converting company. Gurandiano will also oversee SPFT’s recycling businesses. Gurandiano has put together a senior management team made up of seasoned industry managers to lead the new company.

“We are excited about the future of SPFT and all of its businesses,” said Jay Gurandiano. “SPFT is a well capitalized company with committed and knowledgeable shareholders and an exciting strategic plan to strengthen its place in the newsprint and packaging markets. It has a strong and experienced workforce and a solid customer base to build upon,” said Gurandiano. “The new management team is committed to improve product and service, boost product innovation and a build an engaged workforce with an enhanced customer focused culture.”

Gurandiano commented, “While newsprint will remain the foundation of the business for the foreseeable future, the company is looking forward to aggressively developing an innovative value-added packaging component to service the paperboard, containerboard and converting marketplaces. SPFT will focus on customer service, environmental stewardship and technological innovation.”

Separately, a Bloomberg article noted that SP Newsprint converted its Chapter 11 reorganization to a liquidation in Chapter 7, three days after the sale was approved. A trustee was also appointed. The case was converted to a liquidation, Bloomberg said, because there was way to confirm a Chapter 11 plan.

SP Fiber Technologies is a producer of high-quality newsprint and paperboard.

Previously on abfjournal.com:

Court Approves Bidding Procedures, DIP Increase for SP Newsprint, Wednesday, August 01, 2012