Norske Skog started in 1962 with the construction of a
paper mill at
Skogn in Norway, with the plant opening in 1966 and a second paper machine added in 1967. Half the capital for the project was issued by the
Norwegian Forest Owners Association. In 1972 Norske Skog started a cooperation with
Follum Fabrikker in
Hønefoss. By 1989 Norske Skog had acquired Follum Fabrikker and
Union in Skien as well as
Saugbrugsforeningen in
Halden. With this Norske Skog controlled all the pulp and paper mills in Norway. The first international acquisition came in 1992 with
Norske Skog Golbey in Lorraine, France. The company later bought the entire plant in 1995. Norske Skog expanded with purchases in Austria in 1996 and the Czech Republic in 1997. In 1998 it purchased mills in Thailand and the Republic of Korea. In 2000 Norske Skog bought the
British Columbia-based
Fletcher Challenge Canada with nine mills and
Pacifica Papers (formerly
MacMillan Bloedel) and created
NorskeCanada. At the same time it absorbed the
Australian Newsprint Mills, a subsidiary of Fletcher Challenge. By 2006 Norske Skog had sold its shares in NorskeCanada and the company changed its name to
Catalyst Paper. In September 2005 it acquired the Asian company
PanAsia Paper, in turn making Norske Skog Asia's largest producer of newsprint and magazine paper. During the following years, the company suffered from an oversupply in the paper industry and mounting debt. A number of factories were closed, downsized or divested. The closure of the Union paper mill in
Skien in 2005 caused a massive outcry, including protests from a number of politicians. Further closures include the closure of a factory in
Štětí in the Czech Republic, the indefinite closure of a factory in
South Korea, and the closure of one of the three paper machines at Follum. From March 2007 to March 2008, the stock value plummeted from over to below . An editorial in the Norwegian business newspaper
Finansavisen could not rule out the possibility of
bankruptcy. In September 2008, Norske Skog Korea was bought by Morgan Stanley Private Equity of Asia and Shinhan Private Equity. Sven Ombudstvedt became CEO of Norske Skog in January 2010. Ombudstvedt was previously
chief financial officer and a management board member of
Yara International and strategy director of
Norsk Hydro. Ombudstvedt succeeded
Christian Rynning-Tønnesen. Norske Skogindustrier ASA went bankrupt in 2017 and was delisted from the Oslo Stock Exchange. However, the operations continued, and was reorganized under a new parent company, Norske Skog ASA, which was reintroduced to the Oslo Stock Exchange in October 2019. Over the following years, the group has diversified in order to counter the downward trend of the publication paper market. In 2020, it was announced that two paper machines, at Bruck an der Mur in Austria and Golbey in France, would be converted to produce recycled containerboard. The company is also pursuing fibre-based growth initiatives under the brand names Cebina and Cebico as well as energy related projects such as
biogas. Norske Skog is also the major shareholder of Circa Group, which is listed separately on
Euronext Growth with the ticker CIRCA.
Environmental record Norske Skog have been accused of environmental destruction in New Zealand. One of their plants has consumed an entire inland fresh water lake, once full of marine life and a healthy eco system and replaced it with a large stagnant pit full of dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Drums of zinc hydrosulphite and sodium dichromate are buried in the lake bed. Testing has also detected manganese, ammoniacal nitrogen, boron, arsenic, zinc, and chloride, these exceed the maximum concentration limits for drinking water, further polluting the ground water and feeding in to other areas. Norske Skog have effectively walked away from the responsibility to clean up the work site, by closing the paper mill plant, they are refusing to engage with local indigenous Maori, guardians of the environment. Norske Skog continue to ignore requests and written plans, to remediate the land. Norske Skog hide behind out dated and old legislation that gave them the legal means to pollute on such a huge scale. Around 600,000m3 of toxic sludge was dumped into Lake Rotoitipaku over 30 years. Norske Skog operates on 3.54 Billion of revenue as of September 2022 ==List of mills==