Twin Rivers Paper Company was officially launched on April 28, 2010, as a specialty papers business, with fully integrated operations comprised of a pulp and energy complex in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and paper mills in Madawaska, Maine and upstate New York.
On December 14, 2016, we acquired the paper manufacturing assets of the Burrows Paper Corporation, headquartered in New York. The acquired mills produce technical specialty papers and are located in New York (Mill Street, Lyonsdale and Mohawk Valley).
On June 4, 2018, we acquired the Pine Bluff, Arkansas mill from Mondi Group, adding unbleached sack kraft papers to our packaging portfolio.
With a defined business strategy and a team of hardworking, service-driven employees, our goal is to be the supplier of choice in the specialty label, packaging, publishing, and technical markets in which we operate.
Ownership
We are a privately held company with a joint venture between Atlas Holdings and Blue Wolf Capital Partners as our largest shareholder. With a recent capital investment announcement, the new ownership will have invested $47 million since the transition of mill ownership in 2013. Twin Rivers’ operations were formerly owned by Fraser Papers.
Operational History
The story of the operations that would eventually become assets of Twin Rivers spans the first 80 years of the twentieth century and is a testament to the commitment and hard work of many whose lives have been intricately woven into the history of these operations and communities in which they were built. To be successful in this era of globalization, our operations have been repositioned over time in order to be more flexible, efficient, and competitive.
| 1906 | The dimension lumber mill in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick opens |
| 1914 | Juniper, New Brunswick’s dimension lumber mill begins operations |
| 1916 | Edmundston facility is built as northwestern New Brunswick’s first sulphite pulp mill |
| 1925 |
With two paper machines and 20,000 tons of production capacity, Madawaska paper mill opens in Maine |
| 1928 | Two additional paper machines built at Madawaska to produce bond, offset and waxing papers in addition to converting grades |
| 1929 | Capitalizing on the growing demand for mail order catalogs, two more paper machines were brought online |
| 1948 | First trailing blade coater installed at Madawaska, a closely guarded secret for many years |
| 1960 | Madawaska adds another paper machine to make uncoated fine papers and groundwood directory papers |
| 1968 | An off machine blade coater was installed at Madawaska to produce lightweight groundwood base paper for magazines and catalogs |
| 1970 | The 8th paper machine is installed at Madawaska, producing lightweight groundwood specialty papers for directories and catalogs |
| 1975 – 1980 | Several modernization projects were undertaken: addition of a billblade coater; increased machine speed; and the construction of a high-pressure steam pipeline across the St. John River from the Edmundston pulp mill |
| Late 1980s | Two Madawaska paper machines modernized to make lightweight opaques and bible paper grades |
| 1992 – 1997 | More upgrades to paper machines, including soft-nip calendaring, a metering size press, coater rebuild, and automated roll wrapping system |
| 1994 | The first period of modernization projects begins at Plaster Rock dimension lumber mill |
| 1998 | The second period of modernization projects begins at Plaster Rock dimension lumber mill |
| 2006 | Juniper lumbermill is modernized by installing a high grader and laser board edger |
| 2009 | Installed new biomass boiler and new kilns during the $17 million Plaster Rock upgrade |
| 2010 | Company renamed Twin Rivers Paper Company |
| 2013 | Atlas Holdings and Blue Wolf Capital Partners acquire Twin Rivers from Brookfield Asset Management |
| 2013-2016 | New ownership invests $47 million into the operation to improve the quality and consistency of the product while enhancing machine flexibility |
| 2016 | Acquired the four Burrows paper mills (three mills in New York and one in Mississippi) on December 14, 2016 |
| 2018 | Acquired the Mondi Group Sack Kraft paper mill in Pine Bluff, Arkansas adding multiwall, converting and bag capability to packaging portfolio on June 4, 2018 |
| 2024 | Twin Rivers Paper announces sale of Pine Bluff unbleached Kraft Paper Mill to American Kraft Paper Industries, an Affiliate of Global Industrial Group AIAC |
A Legacy of Stewardship
At Twin Rivers Paper, our commitment to the environment is integral to our corporate strategy. Our legacy of voluntary third-party audits for fiber certification, transparency of our environmental records, proactive participation in leading environmental organizations and early adoption of cogeneration as a primary source of renewable energy demonstrates the importance of environmental stewardship to our company.
| 1972 | Start-up of the secondary effluent treatment system at Edmundston |
| 1974 | Installation of two primary effluent treatment clarifiers designed to remove 90% of wastewater solids from Madawaska effluent |
| 1997 |
A 45-megawatt co-generation facility at Edmundston becomes operational, using biomass to produce 51% of the complex’s required energy |
| 2002 | Start-up of a biofilm reactor to treat the effluent at Madawaska |
| 2002 |
Becomes the world’s first lumber manufacturer to be certified under the SFI® program at the New Brunswick and Maine facilities |
| 2007 |
Madawaska and Edmundston are certified to SFI® fiber sourcing standards |
| 2007 | In an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuel and optimize production, two paper machines at Madawaska, an oil-fired boiler and a turbine at Edmundston are closed |
| 2009 | Edmundston granted C$23 million of investment credits under the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program (PPGTP) through the Canadian government |
| 2009 | Madawaska and Edmundston achieve FSC® chain of custody certification |
| 2010 | Paper machine gauging system installed on PM8 along with high-speed camera system for continuous web monitoring |
| 2011 | Paper machine gauging system installed on PM7 along with state-of-the-technology web inspection system |
| 2011 to 2012 | Modernized heat recovery systems across paper machine operations in the Madawaska facility |
| 2011 to 2012 | Many projects for the Green Transformation Program completed |
| 2015 | Madawaska and Edmundston achieve SFI® chain of custody certification |
| 2016 | Madawaska and Edmundston achieve PEFC™ chain of custody certification |
| 2023 | Twin Rivers Paper finalizes sale of Plaster Rock lumber mill to Groupe Lebel with long-term supply agreement for Twin Rivers’ pulp and cogen operations |
