Verso Corp.’s Androscoggin Mill in Jay won’t be affected when the company’s mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, closes this summer, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

“There will be no impact in Maine,” said Bill Cohen, Verso’s manager of communications and public affairs in Maine.

About 310 people will be laid off when the Kentucky mill closes, which is expected to happen by July 1, and some of its work will be moved to other Verso mills, according to a news release issued by the company Tuesday. It did not say which of the company’s six other U.S. mills would get the work.

Cohen said he couldn’t comment on whether the Androscoggin Mill will get any additional orders when the Kentucky mill closes. Both mills make coated paper for magazines, catalogs and commercial printing.

In August, the company announced that two machines would be shut down at the Jay mill and about 300 people laid off. They also announced that the Kentucky mill would be “indefinitely idled” at the same time as a response to declining demand for paper and a rise in foreign imports.

The decision to close the Kentucky mill is not related to the company’s filing for bankruptcy reorganization in January, according to a news release Tuesday.

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“After an exhaustive, but ultimately unsuccessful effort to find a buyer of our Wickliffe Mill, Verso has made the difficult decision to close the facility,” Verso President and CEO David J. Paterson said in the release. “A handful of potential buyers expressed interest in purchasing and continuing to operate the mill, but either offered an unrealistically low purchase price or ultimately chose not to pursue the purchase. The decision to close the Wickliffe Mill is aligned with Verso’s long-held commitment to balance the supply of our products with our customers’ demand for them.”

On Tuesday several company officers filed paperwork to dispose of company stocks. Paterson, who still owns more then 58,000 shares of the company, disposed of about 3,000.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm


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