(www.chinapaperonline.com) The court in Gaotang County, eastern China’s Shandong Province, announced that Shandong Tranlin Paper Group was put under bankruptcy protection effective from October 19th, 2019. And through bidding, the court was to appoint a new management team, who would prepare and submit an acceptable restructure plan, to begin the procedure of company restructuring. The “Chapter 11” procedure will hopefully enable Tranlin Paper to restructure its debts, reshape its business operation and ultimately revitalize the company.
Originally known as the Gaotang Paper Mill, Tranlin Paper Group began as a small printing/writing paper mill in May 1989 and grew through a series of restructure and expansion in 1976, 1978 and 2004. After the last restructure, Tralin Paper was completely privatized, with 39.78% ownership under its registered legal representative - Li, Hongfa - and the balance in the hands of 19 other individuals and institutions. Company production focused on tissue paper, printing/writing paper, unbleached pulp, paper-based food boxes and organic fertilizer, etc. Having 25 subsidiaries in China, the company ran at the combined production capacity of about 400,000 mtpy straw pulp, nearly 700,000 mtpy of printing/writing paper and 100,000 mtpy of tissue paper in recent years.
Local media began to report on the company’s cash flow difficulties, negative business performance and part of its assets being frozen under default from mid-2017.
Tranlin Paper is not new in the North American paper market. In 2014, the company announced an ambitious investment at US$2 billion to build a non-wood pulp and tissue paper mill in Virginia, USA. Promising to create 2,000 new jobs as well as annual tax revenue to the State after its full commercial operation in 2020, Tranlin was given a US$20 million grant from the State authorities in return. By May 2017, however, the company had to announce an indefinite delay of the project and no progress ever since.