gokeefe wrote:Hard to make an offer when no one will even talk to you. Verso wanted that mill shutdown. Had their market position been stronger (70%+) I think they would have been sued by DOJ. It wasn't and then got away with shutting down a mill solely to preserve market position. It was and is legal but they were *very* close to the line.
So you're telling me that Verso wanted to protect their 'market' position (which is in the low-to-intermediate range on the global scope of things) of the coated groundwood market (mostly second rate these days compared to some of the products out there) to prevent any competitor from coming into a mill that was never built for efficiency (built in 1930s), had a near-death rail branch (key to inbound supply chain and at the end Verso HAD to resort to more expensive outbound trucking because rail service was deteriorating) and doesn't even produce pulp (the real driver behind the current resurgence). I've heard many a disgruntled worker or bystander say that it was an 'inside job' but the real sites of value are what you currently see-- the ones that are turning a profit and still investing.
End of the day is, Bucksport's worth more as anything but a paper mill, and the story was told years ago. Verso is just an easy scape goat... but now everyone has changed their tune since they put money back into Jay (which is a straight line, fully integrated pulp, paper & power plant)... no surprise there, its got pulp assets (which need some work but that's what they are doing).