Caraustar completes purchase.

Caraustar Industries, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, USA, said that its purchase of remaining equity in Caraustar Northwest, LLC, Tacoma, Washington, from Caraustar's venture partner Paccess, Portland, Oregon, is now complete. The Tacoma facility that manufactures tubes, cores, and edge protectors and performs custom slitting for customers on the West Coast will become part of Caraustar Industrial & Consumer Products Group. This operation complements the Northwest paper mill that Caraustar acquired from Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (SSCC) in September 2002.

In other Caraustar news: The Halifax paperboard mill, Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, which has been idle since mid-2001, has been permanently closed. Carolina Converting Inc. (CCI), Fayetteville, North Carolina, is being consolidated and relocated in recognition of the trend toward offshore sourcing of various specialty products such as board games and puzzles. The Ashland, Ohio, carton facility is being restructured to serve a smaller, more focused carton market.