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Hadera Paper Ltd. announced that it is selling its 49.9% stake in the Hogla-Kimberly diaper company to its partner Kimberly-Clark Corp. for US $160 million. This sum includes US $10 million, for Hadera Paper not to compete in the diaper market, for at least four years. Hadera Paper said that the sale will yield a profit after tax of US $126 million.

Early on Monday morning, January 26, two packaging giants announced that they will meld into one and create the second-largest packaging company in the world. Rock-Tenn Co. will acquire MeadWestvaco Corp. in a cash and stock deal valued at US $9.2 billion. When the dust has settled, MeadWestvaco shareholders will hold 50.1% of the new company and Rock-Tenn shareholders will own the remaining 49.9%. This transaction will be the largest in the paper industry since Koch Industries bought Georgia-Pacific in 2005 for about $12.6 billion. The new company, which will be named later, with be second in size only to International Paper, world packaging leader.

An employee burned on the job Friday morning at the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, New York, has died.

MeadWestvaco Corp. is selling its European-based tobacco folding carton business. The Richmond, Virginia-based company said Thursday it has signed a definitive agreement with Swedish company AR Packaging Group AB.

We will be going slightly off topic this week, unless your affiliation with the pulp and paper industry requires you to spend a lot of time on airplanes as I do...

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The year 2015 is shaping up as a very interesting year for the Australasian tissue sector.

Ken MacKenzie will leave Amcor at the end of June, which will mark a decade in the top job at the maker of packaging for hundreds of products, from wine to surgical tools. His replacement is Ron Delia, who joined Amcor in 2005 and has been chief financial officer since 2011.

Four US papermakers--Domtar Corp., Packaging Corp. of America, Finch Paper LLC and P.H. Glatfelter Co.--are lodging petitions with the US Dept. of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to protest "dumping" in the US of uncoated, sheeted printing and copying papers. The protesting companies are seeking duties on these papers coming from China, Indonesia, Brazil, Portugal and Australia.

The sale of the Verso Bucksport mill to a subsidiary of scrap dealer American Iron & Metal for $58 million may go forward after a federal judge on Tuesday, 21 Jan. 2015, refused to halt it due to possible antitrust violations.

A worker was trapped in the cab of a logging machine and seriously injured when the piece of equipment fell over Monday.

UPM announced that it will permanently close down paper machine 2 at UPM Kaukas and paper machine 5 at UPM Jämsänkoski in Finland, along with paper machine 1 at the UPM Shotton mill in the UK. UPM said that production will end by the end of March 2015 at the latest, adding that employee consultation processes

Weyerhaeuser will reportedly pay a $37,500 civil fine after its pulp mill in Columbus, Mississippi exceeded emissions limits during a 2013 test.

When I observe employees in mills today casually discussing problems, I see them behaving in much the same way as we did forty years ago. They seem just as lost on where to turn for help, just as confused on the path out of the current dilemma, just as mixed up when seeking a verifiable answer to a question. This astounds me...

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Our readers let us know if they or a household member of their families received an RPA for Christmas.

Numerous problems become apparent when relying on various life cycle methods...

Metso announced on Thursday it has agreed to sell its process automation business to Valmet in a deal valuing the division at 340 million euros