Abitibi Consolidated Sales LLC history

In 1965 Abitibi Power & Paper Company Limited changed its name to Abitibi Paper Company Ltd.

To counteract this trend, Abitibi overcame its habitual reluctance to expand with the 1968 purchases of Cox Newsprint, Inc. and Cox Woodlands Company for US $36.58 million.

After a brief search for likely targets, Bell and Rosier gained control of 54 percent of the outstanding common shares of The Price Company Limited, another Canadian paper concern with 1974 sales of C $335 million.

When the dust settled 15 months later, Abitibi-Price--which had changed its name in October 1979--was owned by Olympia & York, a Toronto-based real estate holding company run by the Reichmann family.

In 1989–90 the newsprint industry entered its worst period since the Great Depression.

The 1990 loss was affected by a one-time charge of C $42.6 million.

In June 1992 Abitibi-Price announced that it would sell its United States building products division for US $100 million (C $120 million) to two separate buyers.

The company would not have a profitable quarter until 1995, when it reported annual net income of C $273 million on net sales of C $2.8 billion.

In February 1997 Abitibi-Price and Stone-Consolidated Corporation announced plans to merge operations and become the world's largest newsprint and uncoated groundwood producer.