Paper Excellence adopting Domtar name as company tries to shake controversy and focus on growth

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After a recent acquisition binge and concerns over its environmental record and foreign ownership brought it into the spotlight, the Richmond, B.C.-based company is determined to turn the page

Paper Excellence Group, the privately held pulp and paper maker that now controls a commanding share of Canada’s forest products sector, is adopting Domtar as its business name as it moves on from past controversies and hunts for new growth in a challenged industry.

“This is us saying, ‘Look, we’ve put the wings on the airplane now,’ ” said industry veteran John Williams, a former Domtar chief executive officer who is now the company’s non-executive chairman. “We’re organized. We’re ready. We’ve got the people in place, we’ve got the structures in place, and here we go.”

The company has consolidated a big piece of Canada’s forest products sector in short order. It bought British Columbia’s Catalyst Paper Corp. in 2019, then Montreal-based Domtar Corp. in 2021 and finally Resolute Forest Products Inc. in a deal that closed last year. After reports by The Globe and other media outlets last year highlighted Paper Excellence’s growing influence, the House of Commons natural resources committee struck a mandate to hear from executives and seek reassurances from government bureaucrats regarding the due diligence done on its takeovers.

Mr. Widjaja is getting more comfortable with the idea that he needs to open up, Mr. Williams says. The owner visited a Paper Excellence sawmill on a trip to the United States, where two of his three children go to school, according to the chairman. And he also met with Canadian diplomats in Indonesia. He’ll soon have a LinkedIn profile, too, Mr. Williams said.“He will be, I think, more visible” going forward, he said.

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