Manistique Papers wins business turnaround award

Manistique Papers’ remarkable turnaround has earned its new parent company a community impact award.

The Watermill Group is a private investing firm that already owned one sustainable paper mill, FutureMark Paper. After the mill, the largest private employer in Schoolcraft County, was threatened with liquidation in 2011, a community effort with local bank mBank and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation connected with Watermill as a buyer for the mill.

That purchase fit right in to Watermill’s mission of acquiring businesses at a crossroads and restructuring them with new sustainable strategies, and it’s what earned the group the Restructuring Community Impact Award from the recently-announced M&A Advisor Turnaround Awards for 2012.

“The Manistique acquisition was remarkable for how it brought together government entities, company management and the town to save this local institution,” says Robert Ackerman, a partner at The Watermill Group. “The community’s determination not only to save the mill, but to turn it into a sustainable, growing operation was truly impressive to us. It was a privilege to partner with mBank, the management team and the State of Michigan on this unusual cross-sector relationship.”

Watermill’s two mills now operate as FutureMark Paper Group, providing responsibly made recycled paper for books and magazines, commercial printing and packaging applications.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Manistique Paper