OREANDA-NEWS. January 09, 2015. Verso Corporation announced the completion of its acquisition of NewPage Holdings Inc. The transaction, valued at approximately USD1.4 billion, originally was announced on January 6, 2014.

With the completion of the NewPage acquisition, Verso will have approximately USD 3.5 billion in annual sales and approximately 5,800 employees in eight mills across six states, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.

"The combination of Verso and NewPage creates a stronger, more stable company with an effective strategy to weather industry headwinds and reduce operating costs, while ensuring our customers continue to benefit from the distinctive quality and service that they have come to expect from us," said David J. Paterson, Verso's president and CEO.

The combination is expected to result in substantial cost synergies over the next 18 months. "With the complementary asset base and shared strategic focus on coated paper manufacturing, this acquisition represents a relatively low integration risk, so we remain confident that we can deliver the synergies within the expected timeframe," Paterson said.

"This combination and the related financial transactions have created value for the securities holders of both companies," said Mark Angelson, chairman of NewPage.

In a related transaction, immediately prior to Verso's acquisition of NewPage, NewPage completed the divestiture of its paper mill in Biron, Wisconsin, and its pulp and paper mill in Rumford, Maine, to Catalyst Paper Operations Inc., a subsidiary of Catalyst Paper Corporation. The divestiture, originally announced on October 30, 2014, was undertaken pursuant to a settlement with the United States Department of Justice that enabled the NewPage acquisition to proceed.

Promptly after the NewPage acquisition was completed, Verso changed its name from Verso Paper Corp. to Verso Corporation. The name change symbolizes Verso's intention to broaden its business platform and seek alternative revenue streams to augment its core printing papers, specialty papers and pulp segments.