Thread: Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. Announces Joint Venture

http://home.businesswire.com


August 15, 2005 03:00 PM US Eastern Timezone

Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. Announces Joint Venture

CANTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2005--Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. (Bloomberg: bluerd) announces today their participation in the forming of a new joint venture to supply liquid packaging solutions to the Central American and Caribbean markets. The new Company, Envases Panama, will be located in Panama City, Panama and will produce "gable top" cartons under a licensing agreement with Blue Ridge. Eduardo Sosa has been named Sr. Vice President of the Company and will manage the day-to-day operations.

Commenting on the joint venture, Mr. Sosa stated, "The forming of Envases Panama comes at the perfect time as the demand for liquid packaging continues to grow throughout the region." The Company's operations will be composed of the current facilities previously operated under the name of Industrias Panamenas, as well as additional production equipment transferred to the facility by Blue Ridge. Mr. Phillip Bowen, Vice President and General Manager of Blue Ridge's Packaging Division notes, "This expansion in both production capabilities and technology will assure that Envases Panama has the resources required to service its customers as their liquid packaging needs continue to grow." Mr. Bowen added, "Our strategic alliance with Italpack Cartons, an Italian producer of gable top cartons, has gone extremely well and we are confident that Envases Panama will be a similar success."

Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. is a vertically integrated manufacturer of specialty paperboard packaging products and a broad range of specialty and commodity grades of paperboard and paper products. The Company believes that it is a leading North American producer of gable top cartons used for packaging juice, milk and other products and of ovenable paperboard used for heating packaged foods in microwave and conventional ovens. The Company's products also include polymer-coated bleached paperboard (including cup stock), envelope paper, specialty and offset printing paper and uncoated bleached paperboard. The Company owns and operates a pulp and paper mill in Canton, North Carolina, an extrusion polymer-coating facility in Waynesville, North Carolina and four U.S.-based packaging plants strategically located near its major food processing customers.

Contacts


Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc.
Phillip Bowen, 828-454-0709

It didnt take them long to jump on the CAFTA bandwagon. I wonder how long before they close the plants here in NC.