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FAME grants $1 million loan to East Millinocket, Millinocket paper mills

This shuttered paper mill in East Millinocket and the one in the Millinocket were purchased by New Hampshire investor Cate Street Capital earlier this month. Mill owners announced plans to hire another 225 workers and begin production there and in Millinocket as early as January 2013.
John Clarke Russ | BDN
This shuttered paper mill in East Millinocket and the one in the Millinocket were purchased by New Hampshire investor Cate Street Capital earlier this month. Mill owners announced plans to hire another 225 workers and begin production there and in Millinocket as early as January 2013.
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff
Posted Nov. 30, 2011, at 7:41 p.m.
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The new Great Northern Paper Co. LLC will make its first property tax payments to East Millinocket and Millinocket shortly thanks to a $1 million loan from the Finance Authority of Maine, officials said Wednesday.

“FAME is pleased to assist Great Northern Paper Co., which is a vital asset to the Katahdin region and to the state of Maine,” Susan Snowden, the new chairwoman of the FAME board of directors, said in a statement released Wednesday. “Our expectation is that the mill will remain competitive on a global basis and continue to employ hardworking Mainers.”

The board approved a direct loan of $1 million during its Nov. 15 meeting in Augusta to help the fledgling papermaker make personal property tax payments due the towns by the end of 2011. The company will pay both towns about $2 million in taxes for the year, company spokesman Scott Tranchemontagne said.

“We found them very easy to work with, very pro-business and very use-friendly,” Tranchemontagne said of FAME. “Clearly, this is a group that really cared about our business and all business moving forward.”

“Sometimes you run into organizations like this where there is more red tape than it is worth. That wasn’t them at all. They demonstrated very clearly that they wanted the project to proceed,” he added.

Gov. Paul LePage announced on Sept. 17 that Cate Street Capital of Portsmouth, N.H., had purchased the two mills on undisclosed terms. The deal was made final on Sept. 28 and the East Millinocket mill restarted on Oct. 17 with 215 workers making the mill’s primary products: newsprint and telephone directory paper.

Though its initial restart was postponed by about a week, the mill had a full year of orders, has added a handful of workers since restarting and continues to meet its deadlines, Tranchemontagne said.

Cate Street leaders applied for the loan in August when they were still assembling financing for the restart with the idea that the loan would provide the company immediate cash to pay its bills promptly without having to press customers for immediate payments for the paper they ordered.

“The beauty of this loan,” Tranchemontagne said, “is that it’s short-term.”

The loan will be repaid in summer 2012, he said.

Created by the Legislature, FAME is an independent state agency that develops and administers programs related to the financing of higher education and business in Maine, according to the state website, maine.gov.

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  • Anonymous

    Can’t pay their taxes already? Big talk of investing 30 million and need money to pay taxes.

  • Damnyou2

    Amen

  • Anonymous

    To BAD96: from the article: ~”Cate Street leaders applied for the loan in August when they were still assembling financing for the restart with the idea that the loan would provide the company immediate cash to pay its bills promptly without having to press customers for immediate payments for the paper they ordered.”~                                                                                                                      

    Ever owned a business of ANY size? Ever had to WAIT for customers to pay YOU before YOU pay your bills? Manufacturing companies of this size (and smaller) typically have receivables extending 90+ days. I say kudos for the foresight to obtain a short term loan to pay the town of Millinocket the property taxes!

  • Anonymous

    This is more good news for the entire Millinocket region.

  • Anonymous

    Penguin forgot to mention this when he announced the deal.  So what else, in addition to buying a toxic dump and giving away a $1 million, did Penguin give these guys in exchange for some factory jobs?

  • Anonymous

    What did you mean by giving away 1 million?  Apparently you didn’t read the article or like most liberals leave out the truth.  It’s a short term loan that will be paid in summer 2012. 

    Get off your perch and say thank you to this company for what their doing.  Forget about the landfill, the state was going to own it anyway,  look at Old Town.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Forget about he landfill? That sounds like the GOP when they offer up tax cuts to the Corporations,” you don’t have to pay for tax cuts. “

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    They need a loan for taxes??

  • Anonymous

    I have noticed the same anti-manufacturing people are the same pro-park people

    Sour grapes much…. :-P

  • Anonymous

    I have noticed the same anti-manufacturing people are the same pro-park people

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if I would be censored if I used a large ugly animal to nickname someone that is proposing a national park?

    This i a positive economic building grant, and beyond repayment, the benefits to the mill will help other business, the community and assist Cate Street to reopen the Millinocket mill.

  • Anonymous

    Being nasty doesn’t make you right.  The Million dollar gift is just another bailout from the taxpayers of Maine (on top of the toxic dump purchase and the years of unemployment benefits).  Its you that needs to be saying thank you.

  • Anonymous

    Don’t confuse Cate Street with a manufacturing firm.  If you believe that they are going to be making paper, you’ve taken the bait.  The company is going to mass produce charcoal (which they are calling Torrefied Wood, because it sounds fancier).  The production of charcoal is both dirty and automated (meaning very few jobs).

  • Anonymous

    Torrefied Wood production “is” manufacturing, and the employment numbers and pay scales dwarf that of seasonal positions in Quimby Land

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