is a Canadian
Pulp And Paper Company based in
Montreal, Quebec . The network of 19 paper mills, 20 sawmills, 4 remanufacturing facilities and 2 engineered wood facilities, located in
Canada , the United States and the
United Kingdom supplies publishers, printers, building products distributors and housing manufacturers in over 70 countries. It has approximately 12,500 employees.
A global leader in
Newsprint , commercial printing papers and wood products, the Company saw combined revenues of $4.85 billion in 2006. Number one in Canada in terms of total certified woodlands, Abitibi-Consolidated is also one of the largest recyclers of
Newspaper s and
Magazine s, serving 21 metropolitan areas in
North America and the United Kingdom.
In addition, the Company has significant hydroelectric generating assets in eastern Canada, which provide a cost advantage for the associated production facilities and represent an attractive vehicle for future growth in the energy sector.
On January 29th, 2007,
Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated announced they would be merging to create
AbitibiBowater Inc. {Link without Title} The merger would created the third largest pulp and paper company in North America, and the eighth largest in the world. Following the merger, Abitibi-Consolidated is rated B1, B+ and B+ by Moodys, Standard and Poors and Fitch Ratings respectively.
Abitibi Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd. : founded in 1912 at newsprint business but the
Great Depression forced the company to file for bankruptcy protection on September 10, 1932. It remained under the control of the Court-appointed Receiver until 1946, the longest such receivership in Canadian history. Emerging from bankruptcy, the company prospered in the post-
World War II industrial boom and in 1965 changed its name to the Abitibi Paper Company Ltd. In 1974, Abitibi purchased a controlling interest in the
Price Brothers & Company Limited which had extensive operations in the
Province Of Quebec and whose vast forestry business dated back to the William Price Company established in Montreal in 1820. The merger of Abitibi and the Price Brothers made it the world's biggest newsprint producer. In 1979, the corporate name was changed to Abitibi-Price Inc. and in 1981 it was taken over by
Olympia And York Developments Ltd . The collapse of Olympia and York in 1992 resulted in the consortium of banks being forced to take control of Abitibi-Price Inc. for a short time until they sold it through a
Public Share Issue in 1994.
The Bathurst Power and Paper Company Ltd. built a mill in
Bathurst, New Brunswick in 1914. Majority control of the company was obtained in the late 1930s by
Arthur J. Nesbitt and his partner
Peter A. T. Thomson through their
Holding Company ,
Power Corporation Of Canada . In the early 1960s, Power Corporation bought the Consolidated Paper Company. When
Paul Desmarais acquired control of Power Corporation in 1968, the two companies were merged to become Consolidated-Bathurst Inc. In 1989, the company was sold to
Stone Container Corporation of
Chicago, Illinois who renamed it Stone Consolidated Inc.
Abitibi-Consolidated was formed from the merger between Abitibi-Price Inc. and Stone-Consolidated on May 29th,
1997 . In
2000 , Abitibi-Consolidated acquired a majority shareholding in Canadian integrated forest products company
Donohue Inc.
