MONTREAL – Resolute Forest Products (TSX: ABH), formerly known as AbitibiBowater Inc., says it gained control of 74.6 per cent of takeover target Fibrek Inc. (TSX:FBK) by the Thursday deadline.
The forestry company that has been buying up shares in Fibrek said it purchased another 4.76 million shares in the company for $2.6 million on the last day shareholders were able to sell their shares under its offer.
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The offer expired at 5 p.m. Thursday.
It plans to carry out a “second step transaction” to acquire the shares not tendered in the offer, which has to be approved by Fibrek shareholders at a special meeting.
Resolute was in a position to take over Fibrek earlier this month after it acquired the necessary two-thirds of its shares.
Resolute already supplies Fibrek with 460,000 tonnes of wood chips annually, representing about 60 per cent of its needs.
AbitibiBowater changed its operating name to Resolute Forest Products but won’t change its legal name until it gets shareholder approval at the company’s annual meeting May 23.
It produces newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products at 18 company owned or operated pulp and paper mills and 24 wood products mills in Canada, the United States and South Korea.
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