By Citizen

March 3, 2009 9:45 AM | Link to this

I sure hope Smart Paper is caught up with their back taxes and utility payments. They have owed the city a lot of money in the past, Hamilton needs to agressivly go after them before the plant gets shut down completely.

By Remember -?

March 3, 2009 11:26 AM | Link to this

As I mentioned when they filed BR a couple years ago, Smart will be absorbed into another organization. This move allows them to highly eliminate their sales and marketing expense. This move also makes them a “net” producer or contract producer for the most part. While they will sell select coated grades direct, that market is limited and continues to decline. Unfortunately this is another step towards a final closing…they will have very little influence over the market now and will become dependant on MH to bring them the Coated volume. This move is a result of the marketplace and a private equity owner who says “enough is enough. I feel bad for the employees losing their jobs, including all of the sales and marketing folks hired last year. MH is unlikely to bring these folks over as they are also attempting to hold the line on sales expense, while leveraging the new tons across their internal infrastucture and existing/growing distribution channels. In addition, the move will increase MH leverage across the merchant base, which is not necessarily good news for the end customer…leverage doesn’t always equal lower pricing for the marketplace. My group looked at this business and determined the volume is decreasing by grade and will only serve as a short-term volume boost for any purchaser (buyer). The asking price for the rights, inventory and volume make it attractive if you are a cash rich buyer…but it doesn’t solve the long-term challenges of the energy, raw material, freight segmentation and reducing volume of the of the industry and its products. Good move MH…you bought it at an attractive price…but it won’t solve the industries and your basic issues…you’ll be a surviver but not a thriver! Only thing more facinating would be for the City of Hamilton to buy what is left of Smart and become a owner and producer of paper. The return on investment on the $30 million dollar energy project sure looks like a brilliant move now…another reason the equity owner said we are done here! I’ll be back with more comment…for now it is time to conclude the next deal with a seller looking to get out of the business…stay tuned paper people!

By Richard

August 18, 2010 3:59 PM | Link to this

It surprises me that no mention was made of the loss of jobs (although later in the article, its revealed that the Union was told some 200 Union jobs would be lost as well as many Salaried). This shows how unimportant the loss of employment is today - and how uncaring business is with regard to its best asset - its employees. We have, particularily in this region, become almost numb to such losses unless they’re in the thousands (such as DHL/Wilmington). And where is the State of Ohio (Dept. of Development, etc.) when these things are about to occur? This deal had to have been known for awhile - at least enough time for the various governments (local and State) to make some sort of inquiry and top begin some planning. Where do those affected go to make a decent, honest living now? And to top it off, on the same day this makes the news, Obama is in Ohio (Columbus) touting the ‘recovery’ - what a hypocritical slap in the face that is to these (about to be former) employees. Maybe 200+ lost jobs isn’t that much — unless you’re one of the 200+. And so, the exodus from Ohio continues, her life (business) and strength (her residents). More crime, more boarded-up abandoned buildings, more failure. Some parts of areas within the cities are looking like ‘ghost’ towns - run-down, unsafe, undesirable, forgotten. How can Ohio ever hope to draw business and well-paid jobs? If it weren’t for The Air Force Museum, tourism (and tourist dollars) would be all but dead. I fear we’re heading for lawlessness, civil disobedience, uprisings, and a revolution the likes of which we’ve not ever seen as the spiral downward continues.