AUGUSTA, GA. — Graphic Packaging Holding Co., a publicly traded consumer packaging manufacturer based in Atlanta, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its bleached paperboard manufacturing plant in Augusta. The buyer is Clearwater Paper Corp., a publicly traded supplier of private-brand tissue products and paperboard materials based in Spokane, Wash. The transaction is valued at $700 million and is expected to close in the second quarter, pending regulatory approval.
Details about the facility were not disclosed, but Graphic Packaging’s website indicates that the mill is located at 4278 Mike Padgett Highway. According to The Augusta Chronicle, Graphic Packaging purchased the plant from International Paper in 2018 before investing $350 million in capital improvements at the facility. The newspaper also reports the facility was built in 1960 by Continental Can Co.
Graphic Packaging’s consultants in the transaction include financial advisor BofA Securities and legal counsel Alston & Bird LLP. Clearwater Paper’s advisors include TD Securities (financial); Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP (legal); and Stoel, Rives LLP (environmental).