Verso plant in Wisconsin Rapids. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — A Greenwich, CT based holding company has reportedly made an offer to purchase Verso Corporation, though it remains unclear what the offer means for the idled paper mill in Wisconsin Rapids and a smaller facility that was shut down last year in Duluth.
The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reports that Atlas Holdings LLC, which already owns a small stake in Verso, has filed paperwork valuing the company at $20 per share in cash. Verso officials have acknowledged the offer but made it known that this is only an opening offer and not a guarantee of a sale or further negotiations.
Verso adds that they will comment further at an appropriate time and if the situation warrants. They add that the offer was “unsolicited.”
Atlas Holdings is a private equity firm that owns over 20 different manufacturing companies. They’ve been an investor in Verso for the last four years.
The news comes one week after Governor Tony Evers issued a veto for a legislative bill that would have allocated $50 million of the state’s ARPA funds to issue a short-term loan to a cooperative looking to purchase and restart the plant.
Evers’ expressed concern over if the funding could be used to restart the mill and another in Park Falls, saying the paper industry was in decline before the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Democrats have since introduced a new proposal that would fund the loans out of the state’s surplus instead of federal dollars. That proposal is in its infancy.
The Verso mill in Wisconsin Rapids has been closed since late July 2020. The building remains property of Verso, and a small number of employees have remained on staff to do light maintenance on the building and its equipment.
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