Resolute Forest Products applies for permission to appeal Court of Quebec's decision reversing cease trade order on Fibrek's private placement of 32,320,000 special warrants to Mercer, extends offer to acquire Fibrek to March 19

Sandy Yang

MONTREAL , March 9, 2012 (press release) – AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products ("Resolute") (NYSE: ABH - News) (TSX: ABH - News), today announced that it has applied for leave to appeal the Court of Québec's decision reversing the cease trade order on Fibrek Inc.'s (TSX: FBK.TO - News) private placement of 32,320,000 special warrants to Mercer International Inc. (Nasdaq: MERC - News) (TSX: MRI-U.TO - News). The cease trade order was issued on February 23 in a decision of the Bureau de décision et de révision (Québec). The appeal, if leave is granted, will be heard by the Québec Court of Appeal.

Resolute also announced that it has received a "no-action" letter from Canada's Commissioner of Competition, confirming that the Commissioner does not intend to challenge Resolute's acquisition of the Fibrek shares pursuant to its offer or any related subsequent transaction.

The Company also announced that it has extended to March 19 the expiry date for its offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Fibrek. The offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Fibrek made by Resolute, together with RFP Acquisition Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, is more fully described in the offer circular and other ancillary documentation that Resolute filed on December 15, 2011, on the "SEDAR" website maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators, as varied and extended. The offer will expire at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on March 19, 2012, unless it is extended or withdrawn by Resolute.

Resolute continues to work diligently to obtain Investment Canada's approval. As of the close of business on March 9, approximately 60.5 million common shares of Fibrek had been deposited to Resolute's offer, representing approximately 46.5% of the outstanding common shares.

Questions and requests for assistance or further information on how to tender Fibrek common shares to the offer should be directed to, and copies of the above referenced documents may be obtained by contacting, Georgeson at 1-866-598-0048 or by email at askus@georgeson.com.

About Resolute Forest Products

Resolute is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. Resolute owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 23 wood product facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in close to 90 countries, Resolute has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards. The shares of Resolute trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Resolute and other member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation issues that meet the goal of balancing equally the three pillars of sustainability linked to human activities: economic, social and environmental. Resolute is also a member of the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, in which businesses establish ambitious targets to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work aggressively toward achieving them.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.