Bowater Completes Sale of Timberlands in Maine to J. D. Irving, Limited.

GREENVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 1999-- Bowater Incorporated (NYSE: BOW) today announced that it has completed the sale of approximately 981,000 acres of timberland in the state of Maine to a subsidiary of J.D. Irving, Limited of Saint John, New Brunswick, for US$216 million.

As part of the sale, Bowater and Irving have entered into an agreement to supply wood fiber from the purchased timberlands to Bowater's paper making operations at Great Northern Paper in Millinocket and East Millinocket, Maine.

The transaction includes lands that are primarily located in Aroostook, Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties in Northern Maine and Pinkham Lumber Co., a sawmill that is located at Nashville Plantation, about eight miles north of Ashland, Maine.

Bowater Incorporated, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a global leader in newsprint. In addition, the company makes coated and uncoated groundwood papers, bleached kraft pulp and lumber products. It has 10 pulp and paper mills in the United States, Canada and South Korea. These operations are supported by more than 3 million acres (excluding the sale mentioned above) of timberlands owned or leased in the United States and Canada and over 14 million acres of timber cutting rights in Canada. The company is one of the world's largest users of recycled newspapers and magazines. Bowater common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. regional exchanges and the London Stock Exchange. A special class of stock exchangeable into Bowater common stock is listed on the Toronto and Montreal exchanges (TSE and ME: BWX).