Our History
Today's Catalyst Paper Corporation is formed of operations from predecessor companies that have their own rich histories.
The main branch of the family tree is British Columbia Forest Products Limited, formed in 1946 as a logging and sawmilling company. With extensive forest operations in British Columbia, BCFP built a solid reputation as a leading wood products company. The company diversified in the early 1950s with expansion into pulp and paper and soon was one of the province's largest integrated forest products companies.
In 1987, Fletcher Challenge Limited of New Zealand, which already owned another B.C. company, Crown Forest Industries, purchased BCFP. A year later, both companies were merged to form Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited. Gradually, the company began to sharpen its focus on pulp and paper as its core businesses. As a result, it sold its wood products and forest interests to other operators.
In 2000, Norske Skog, a Norwegian paper company, purchased all of Fletcher Challenge's pulp and paper assets, including its majority interest in Fletcher Challenge Canada. That fall, we changed our name to Norske Skog Canada Limited.
In August 2001, Norske Skog Canada acquired Pacifica Papers. Pacifica was formed in 1998 from the paper assets previously held by MacMillan Bloedel. With the acquisition of Pacifica, which effectively doubled the size of the company, the company assumed the new identity of NorskeCanada.
In December 2003 the company grew once again, with the acquisition of Newstech Recycling. Now our Paper Recycling Division, the facility uses old newspapers and magazines to create de-inked pulp that we use to manufacture paper products.
In October 2005, our shareholders approved a name change, and we became Catalyst Paper Corporation. We chose the new name so we could do business under our own unique identity, one that clearly differentiates us with customers and that accurately reflects our capital structure.
In February 2006, Norske Skog sold all of its remaining Catalyst shares, ending its association with the company.
In April 2008, Catalyst reached an important milestone with the acquisition of its Snowflake Mill. This is a 100% recycled newsprint manufacturing operation located in northern Arizona. This represented the first expansion of Catalyst's manufacturing network outside of Canada, and significantly increased the company's capacity.
Today, with six operations strategically located in Western North America, we continue to add new pages to our history. Collectively, we have a combined capacity of 2.8 million tonnes across a diverse range of products, including mechanical specialty papers, newsprint, lightweight coated paper, pulp and kraft paper.
