Enron To Sell Quebec Newsprint Mill

By: Jim Rosenberg Stadacona Papers President Andre Sarrasin said Tuesday that owner Enron Corp. decided to put the 550,000-metric-ton Quebec City newsprint mill and related assets up for sale.

Enron bought Stadacona from Japan's Daishowa in April 2001 for undisclosed terms. Stadacona has a workforce of 1,150 and includes a de-inking plant, sawmill, and forests in Maine.

Sarrasin told Reuters that a group of creditors managing Enron assets may now auction assets of the firm, which filed for bankruptcy last year. It quoted him saying, "We have told 14 pulp and paper companies that we were interested in putting Stadacona Papers up for auction."

If no acceptable offer is made, the mill's assets could be sold to a firm being launched to consolidate viable Enron assets.