Verso Corporation, now Billerud Americas Corporation, was a North American producer of

coated paper Coated paper (also known as enamel paper, gloss paper, and thin paper) is paper that has been coated with a mixture of materials or a polymer to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink ab ...

s including coated groundwood, coated freesheet, and specialty products. The company restructured in 2016 following

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. Verso Corporation operated two paper mills in the U.S. In 2021, the company had approximately 1,700 employees. In 2022, the Swedish company BillerudKorsnäs completed its acquisition of Verso for $825m.

History

The company was formed in August 2006 when

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

purchased the coated and supercalendered paper business from

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 39,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

. In April 2008, Verso conducted an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

and was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. In January 2015, Verso completed its acquisition of NewPage Holdings. In 2008, Verso received the Environmental and Energy Achievement Award from the American Forest and Paper Association for its work with the Bucksport Environmental Innovation Partnership. In 2010, Verso received the

Sustainable Forestry Initiative The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a sustainability organization operating in the United States and Canada. SFI was founded in 1994 by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), a wood and paper products trade association. SFI ...

(SFI) President's Award for its partnership efforts to promote sustainable forest management principles and initiatives in Maine. In 2015, Verso Paper's Quinnesec Mill was awarded the Michigan Voluntary Protection Program (MVPP) Star award by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) for the fifth time. Verso Corporation filed for

on January 26, 2016. Six months later, the company emerged from bankruptcy after restructuring and reducing its debt by $2.4 billion. As of January 2017, the company moved its headquarters from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

Miamisburg, Ohio Miamisburg ( ) is a city in southern Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 19,923 at the 2020 census. A suburb of Dayton, it is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Named after the Miami people, Miamisburg is known for its ...

in a consolidation of offices as the company set a goal of reducing its overhead expenses by 10% annually. In January 2017, B. Christopher DiSantis was appointed as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) and a director of Verso effective as of February 1, 2017. DiSantis resigned in April 2019 and Leslie Lederer was appointed as interim CEO. At the end of April 2019, Verso gave two months notice of the impending closure of its mill in

Luke, Maryland Luke is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, Allegany County, Maryland, United States, located along the Potomac River just upstream of Westernport, Maryland, Westernport. Known originally as West Piedmont, the town is part of the Cumberland, MD-W ...

. On June 9, 2020, Verso announced a plan to indefinitely idle its US paper mills in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and

Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

by late July 2020. The idling was due to the decline in demand for graphic paper and reduced use of print advertising in various industries during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. According to the company, a small number of employees were to be kept on afterwards for an unknown time until remaining stock was sold. Between the two paper mills, about 1,000 employees were expected to be laid off, with 900 of those at the Wisconsin Rapids Mill. In January 2021, Verso announced that it no longer planned on restarting its Duluth mill, citing a decrease in demand as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2021, Verso reached a settlement over lawsuits regarding pollution in the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

from the defunct Luke Paper Mill. As part of the settlement, Verso agreed to identify the sources and extent of the contamination and create a comprehensive plan to clean it, as well as pay $650,000 to the state of Maryland. In December 2021, Swedish pulp and paper company BillerudKorsnäs announced a takeover of Verso, which was completed in 2022. In January 2022, The state of Michigan announced a $244,451 settlement with Verso Corporation over national pollutant discharge elimination system violations at the company’s

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The popu ...

Paper Mill which resulted in fish being killed in the

Escanaba River The Escanaba River ( ) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed December 19, 2011 river on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. ...

downstream of the mill. In March 2022, the Swedish illerudKorsnäs company completed its acquisition of Verso for $825m.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.versoco.com Manufacturing companies established in 2006 American companies established in 2006 Manufacturing companies based in Ohio Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Pulp and paper companies of the United States American subsidiaries of foreign companies Apollo Global Management companies 2008 initial public offerings 2022 mergers and acquisitions Corporate spin-offs