Sale of the Business and Operations of NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp.

HALIFAX, Sept. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - On September 9, 2011, NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. ("NPPH") filed for and obtained protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA").  Pursuant to an Order of the Court dated September 9, 2011 (the "Initial Order"), Ernst & Young Inc. ("E&Y") was appointed as Monitor (the "Monitor") in the CCAA proceedings.  Documents relating to the CCAA proceedings can be obtained from the Monitor's website at www.ey.com/ca/npph.

NPPH operates a paper mill on Cape Breton Island, owns approximately 50,000 acres of timberland and manages 1.5 million acres of licensed crown timberland in Nova Scotia.  The NPPH mill consists of one newsprint paper machine and one supercalendered paper machine with a combined annual production capacity of 545,000 metric tonnes.  Supercalendered paper is a form of enhanced newsprint that is a value added grade of paper used in catalogues, magazines, inserts and flyers.  Additionally, NPPH's mill operates a thermo-mechanical pulp operation to provide the bulk of its fibre requirements.

On September 9, 2011, NPPH obtained a court order authorizing NPPH and the Monitor to implement a sales process ("Sales Process Order") to sell NPPH's assets and business.  Sanabe & Associates LLC has been retained by NPPH to assist in the sales process. The assets offered for sale include the property and assets, and any liabilities required to be assumed in connection with the purchase of the business of NPPH, (the "Assets").

The sale of the Assets is on an "as is, where is" basis and without surviving representations and warranties of any kind to the purchaser.  Subject to order of the Court, all rights, title and interests of NPPH in and to the Assets will be sold free and clear of all claims.  In addition, a sale will be subject to court approval.

The deadline for submission of a non-binding letter of intent ("LOI") is 5:00 pm EST on September 28, 2011.  Information which must be included in the LOI and information on the process for submission can be found in Schedule "A" of the Sales Process Order which can be found on the Monitor's website at www.ey.com/ca/npph.

SOURCE Ernst & Young Inc.