Catalyst Paper Corporation’s board of directors has elected Jeffrey Marshall as chair of the board, replacing Benjamin Duster. Marshall, who has been on Catalyst’s board since 2006, is also the chair of Ormet Corporation and serves on the boards of Lakefield College School Foundation and Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services Inc. Duster will continue to serve on the board.
Another member of the board, Denis Jean, resigned, effective February 2, for personal reasons, according to a company statement.
Third Avenue Management LLC has announced that it has sold 105,105,509 common shares of Catalyst, which represent approximately 27.52 per cent of the company’s issued and outstanding shares. Third Avenue stated in a release that following the sale, it no longer has ownership of, or control or direction over, any Catalyst shares.
The Toronto Stock Exchange is delisting Catalyst, ending trading of its shares at the close of trading on March 8.
Catalyst has been going through a restructuring process under court protection from creditors through the CCAA (Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act). The filing came after the company failed to win support from enough of its lenders and from unionized workers at its mill in Crofton, who rejected contract concessions.
Catalyst has secured up to $175 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JP Morgan during the CCAA process. The BC Supreme Court has approved the financing up to the end of April.
Catalyst will be back in court tomorrow (February 23). The company plans to have the terms of a restructuring plan and seek permission from the court to hold a creditor meeting or, in the alternative, seek another order to advance the restructuring. It suggested that an order to conduct a sale process was a possibility.
