RUMFORD — The Catalyst paper mill has a new owner and new name.

ND Paper LLC, a subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper of Hong Kong, announced Friday that it had completed the purchase of paper mills in Rumford and Biron, Wisconsin, and an operations center in Ohio from Catalyst Paper Corp. for $175 million.

The acquisitions represent Nine Dragons’ first mills in the U.S.

“We are very excited about the new products, team members and new business opportunities we can create with this acquisition,” ND Paper CEO Ken Liu said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the teams and local communities in Maine, Wisconsin and Ohio to expand our industry leadership globally.”

The Maine property, which employs roughly 620 people, will be known as the ND Paper – Rumford Mill.

When the sales agreement was announced last month, the company said there would be no layoffs and talked about future investment and expansion.

A spokesman said Friday that nothing had changed.

Nine Dragons Paper is China’s largest producer of containerboard, the product that is commonly used in making cardboard boxes.

A national paper industry analyst said last month that he already was hearing talk about Nine Dragons converting Rumford from coated paper production to containerboard, which has been a growing market.

ND Paper declined to comment beyond saying it plans to evaluate “the strengths and capabilities of the mills in order to understand what appropriate investments may be needed to enhance the mills’ competitiveness globally.”

Kathryn Skelton can be contacted at

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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