Daishowa Sells Quebec City Paper Mill to Enron

In a share deal that closed on March 30, 2001, Japan’s Daishowa North America Corporation sold its Quebec City paper mill and related forestry operations to Houston-based Enron Industrial Markets, LLC, a subsidiary of the US energy conglomerate Enron Corp. Enron is a world leader in energy and commodity trading and risk management products. Through Clickpaper.com LLC Enron has introduced the first Web-based product dedicated to the pulp, paper and wood products industries offering users access to transactable prices without charge. The Quebec City mill produces 515,000 tonnes a year of newsprint and employs 1,200 people, making it one of the largest private employers in the provincial capital. The Quebec acquisition is Enron’s second foray into ownership of pulp and paper assets.

Enron was represented in this transaction by in-house counsel Peter del Vecchio and Mark Greenberg, assisted by Bennett Jones LLP (Toronto) lawyers Paul Blundy and Vanessa Yeung (corporate), Scott Martyn (real estate) and Alan Diner (Investment Canada) and by Bennett Jones LLP (Calgary) lawyers Bob Booth (corporate), Beth Riley (competition law) and Darcy Moch (tax). In Quebec, Enron was advised by Robert Daigneault on regulatory and environmental matters and by Roland Massicotte of Lapointe Rosenstein on employment matters.

Davis & Company represented Daishowa with a team that included Vancouver lawyers Doug Buchanan and Alec Robertson, Q.C. (corporate), and Toronto lawyers Mihkel Holmberg, David Wright and Elana Hahn (corporate), Richard Neville (real estate), Andra Pollak (employment), and Stan Wong (competition law). Ewald Kacnik of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provided tax advice. Kevin Kyte (corporate) and Monique Lussier (environmental) of Stikeman Elliott’s Montreal office also provided advice to Daishowa and its investment bankers JP Morgan Securities Inc. and The Bridgeford Group.