Quebec Court of Appeal reinstates cease trade order on Fibrek's private placement of 32,320,000 special warrants to Mercer, reversing Court of Quebec's March 16 decision; Resolute Forest Products' offer so far set to expire April 2

Sandy Yang

MONTREAL , March 27, 2012 (press release) – AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products ABH -1.34% CA:ABH -1.82% , today announced that the Québec Court of Appeal has reinstated the cease trade order on Fibrek Inc.'s CA:FBK +0.87% private placement of 32,320,000 special warrants to Mercer International Inc. MERC -0.52% CA:MRI.U -5.49% , an order issued by the Bureau de décision et de révision (Québec) on February 23. The Court of Appeal's decision reverses the March 16 decision of the Court of Québec. The Bureau is the administrative tribunal with statutory jurisdiction in securities law and regulatory matters in Québec.

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 The offer will expire at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on April 2, 2012, unless it is extended or withdrawn by Resolute.

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 Forest Products 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. The Company owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 23 wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in more than 90 countries, Resolute has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards. The shares of Resolute Forest Products, formerly doing business as AbitibiBowater, 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: environmental, social and economic. 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.

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