Although Late, Brascan Tries to Enter the Bidding Process

BANGOR -- Although the court-ordered deadline on new bids for the purchase of the Great Northern mills has passed, Brascan Corporation, a Toronto-based company, is trying to enter the bidding process.

“We’re still interested and we’re still there,” said Richard Legault, an executive VP for Brascan. “We are continuing to pursue an acquisition of these assets.”

Ron Stern, owner and CEO of Belgravia, the only official bidder thus far, has no intention of withdrawing his $91 million offer to buy the Katahdin area mills.

Judge Kornreich is expected to rule on several legal objections to Stern’s bid early on Friday, after bankruptcy court proceedings, including the sale, begin at 9:00 a.m. in the federal building in Bangor.

In a telephone interview with the Bangor Daily News, Stern said that he was satisfied that a Tuesday deadline for new offers had passed without any competing bids, and that he was now working to complete his purchase of the mills.

“We are moving forward,” Stern told the  Daily News. “It’s a complex process. We are trying to do our best to come up with the right long-term plan that really works.”

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According to Brascan’s attorney, that is exactly what they are trying to do. Brascan has been talking to GNP attorneys in an attempt to devise a bid that will be acceptable to the court, and “provide value” to the company and the Katahdin area community.

Legault did not say how the company was going to deal with the fact that it missed the Tuesday deadline for new bids.

Brascan purchased Great Lakes Hydro America from Great Northern Paper Company in 2001, as GNP CEO Lambert Bedard was selling off assets prior to seeking bankruptcy protection.

Brascan, through its subsidiary, Fraser Paper, owns a paper mill in Madawaska, Maine.

Belgravia owns four paper mills, in Alberta, Ontario, Oregon, and Texas. Ron Stern, the owner of Belgravia, also owns the Canadian Newsprint Company, the parent company of the Winnipeg Free Press and the Brandon Sun; and several other holdings, including Western Glove Works, in Winnipeg.

Given the Tuesday deadline, Belgravia considers itself to be the only qualified bidder for the purchase of the Great Northern mills, closed since late December.

Rather than making a bid for the purchase of the mills before the deadline had passed, Brascan filed an objection to Belgravia’s bid.

In documents filed with the bankruptcy court on Tuesday, attorneys for Brascan stated that “Great Northern and Belgravia have failed to satisfy the statutory requirements for providing adequate assurance of future performance under Brascan’s contracts.

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