Asia Pulp & Paper terminated a deal Friday to buy three pulp mills and a sawmill from insolvent Pope & Talbot, sending shockwaves through mills in British Columbia where the future of over 1,000 workers is now in jeopardy.
Pope & Talbot, a Portland-based company with most of its operations in B.C., has financing in place only until Monday to run its pulp mills at Harmac, Mackenzie and Halsey Oregon. A sawmill at Fort St. James is also affected but it is currently not operating.
Now the future of the mills depends on what happens Monday when Pope & Talbot returns to B.C. Supreme Court, said investment analyst Kevin Mason of Equity Research Associates.
-- story big enough to make Vancouver Sun!
Two things led to the collapse of the deal, US banks have finally figured out it os not a good risk to lend money to someone who's defaulted on $14 billion (as speculated here), and the gov't of Indonesia has allowed APP to strip mine the forests at home.
We're hooped.
Perhaps that local consortium should offer $5 million, if they feel it's even worth that in the shape the current market is in. There's a very small window of hope when P&T returns to BC Supreme Court, but don't expect any help to come from Victoria. Liberal policy was set once they opposed using public funds to keep Skeena in Terrace alive. They won't send a penny to help out.
Book your moving van now. The only people staying here will be those of us who live here by choice and those who live here with no choice.
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