Domtar acquiring four G-P white paper mills.

Domtar Inc., Montreal, is making a major strategic move in the printing/office white paper business by agreeing to buy the Ashdown, Ark.; Nekoosa and Port Edwards, Wis., and Woodland, Maine, pulp and paper mills from Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta. The price tag for the deal announced at the end of April will depend upon due diligence ahead of any final agreement, but is believed to be around $1.5 billion.

Domtar, Canada's largest specialty and fine paper producer and ranked seventh in those North America markets after its 1998 acquisition of E.B. Eddy, has been looking for ways to expand into the U.S., where it already has 75% of its sales.

"This acquisition …