What’s in a name? For Richmond-based forestry, pulp and paper giant Paper Excellence, it’s a name that has been tinged with intrigue, so it is taking on the more venerable moniker Domtar – the name of the Canadian pulp and paper giant it acquired in 2021.
Paper Excellence today announced it is rebranding as Domtar.
"Today marks a new and important chapter in Domtar’s journey, representing the bright future ahead of us," John Williams, non-executive chairman of the Domtar’s management board, said in a news release.
"As a fully integrated company, we are better positioned to deliver for our customers, strengthen relationships with our key stakeholders and drive innovation across our industry. As a result of the integration, we now have a company that boasts the best of our three legacy companies and is poised to pursue and achieve future growth and success. Our new brand is a reflection of our shared mission to lead with purpose and impact."
In 2007, Paper Excellence made its appearance in Canada with the acquisition of a single pulp mill in Saskatchewan. Headquartered in Richmond, B.C., it grew through a number of acquisitions, including the 2018 acquisition of the financially troubled Catalyst Forest Products, which owned pulp and paper mills in B.C.
In 2021, Paper Excellence acquired Domtar for US$3 billion ($4 billion Canadian) and a Brazilian pulp and paper company for $2.9 billion.
In 2022, Paper Excellence acquired Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products, via Domtar, for US$2.7 billion ($3.7 billion Canadian), with Domtar becoming Resolute’s parent company, and Paper Excellence the parent of Domtar. The acquisitions made Paper Excellence one of the largest forestry, pulp and paper companies in North America.
It is Paper Excellence’s parentage that has long troubled environmental groups like Greenpeace, which has linked Paper Excellence to Indonesia’s Asia Pulp and Paper and the Sinar Mas Group.
Greenpeace and others say the Indonseian companies have been responsible for deforestation, human rights abuses and conflicts with Indigenous communities.
Paper Excellence is owned by Jackson Wijaya, the elusive scion of Teguh Ganda Wijaya, the founder of Asia Pulp & Paper. Paper Excellence is one of four business units of International Paper Excellence Group.
But apart from Wijaya’s family connections, Paper Excellence has long disavowed any corporate relationship with Asia Pulp and Paper.
In 2022, a consortium of environmental groups -- the Environmental Paper Network, Woods & Wayside International, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace — mined public records to provide “strong circumstantial evidence” the two companies belong to the same corporate group.
Glacier Media also participated in an investigation with partners from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) — including the CBC, Halifax Examiner, Le Monde and Radio France — that also linked Paper Excellence with with the Indonesian business empire in a series called Deforestation Inc.
In response to a complaint to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) by Greenpeace Canada and Indonesian group Auriga Nusantara, which called on the council to revoke sustainability certificates from Paper Excellence, the FSC carried out an independent review.
In May this year, after reviewing Paper Excellence’s corporate structure, the FSC concluded the company shares no current “relationship of control” with Asia Pulp and Paper. Greenpeace and Auriga Nusantara questioned those findings.
Paper Excellence’s rebranding is a logical one, given Domtar’s name recognition in Canada and the U.S. Domtar is one of Canada’s oldest company names.
In 1903, the Dominion Tar and Chemical Company was formed and operated a plant in Nova Scotia that made coal tar and treated wood – railway ties being one of the products.
In 1965, the company rebranded as Domtar and was by then a diversified company with chemical, paper, and newsprint making divisions. It eventually came to specialize in pulp and paper. In 2006, it merged with Weyerhaeuser’s paper division, Weyerhaeuser TIA, and the new company kept the Domtar name.
Domtar will maintain its corporate offices in Richmond, Fort Mill, South Carolina and Montreal.
“There will be no changes to the company’s physical location or production footprint as a result of this announcement,” the company says in its news release.
Combined, Domtar owns 58 pulp, paper, packaging and lumber mills and distributions centres throughout Canada and the U.S., including four pulp and paper mills in B.C. and a distribution centre in Surrey, and has a global workforce of 14,000.
-- with files from Stefan Labbe
