Case Study: Union Workers Buy Mill--Strike Deal with Environmentalists

In October, 1997, Champion International Corp, of Stamford, CT, then an independent multinational paper maker, announced that its DairyPak Division with two sprawling paper mills in western North Carolina and finishing plants in five other states, was for sale. READ MORE

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On May 14, 1999, in the largest union-led buyout in the country since 1994, employees and the KPS Special Situations Fund together bought a paper mill, an extruding plant, and five converting plants from Champion International for $200 million.

The new company, Blue Ridge Paper Products, has 2200 new employee owners who work in the paper mill in Canton, North Carolina, in the extruding mill in Waynesville, NC, and in five Dairy Pak converting plants in Georgia, Iowa, Texas, New Jersey & Olmsted Falls, Ohio. READ MORE

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More on the investment firm that partnered with the union