Stone-Consolidated Buys Majority Interest in Produits Forestiers la Tuque.

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 1996--STONE-CONSOLIDATED (ME,TSE:SO,SO.PRA) Stone-Consolidated Corporation announced today that on August 30, 1996, it has entered into a strategic agreement with Produits Forestiers La Tuque (PFLT) whereby it has acquired a majority interest (75 percent) in PFLT, a sawmill located at Site Vallieres, near La Tuque, Quebec. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The sawmill, which has an annual capacity of 50 million fbm, is provided sawlogs harvested on a 240,000 m3 CAAF. Under this agreement, the sawmill will provide chips to the Stone-Consolidated paper mills, when current chip contracts expire.

Mr. Richard R. Pickering, Vice-President, Woodlands and Wood Products at Stone-Consolidated will take over as President of Produits Forestiers La Tuque. Mr. Michel Duval has been appointed General Manager. The shares acquired by Stone-Consolidated were previously owned by Mr. Marcel Benoit. The remaining shares are owned by La Cooperative forestiere du Haut Saint-Maurice.

In announcing the agreement, Mr. Pickering said: "This is an outstanding blueprint for success: the workers are highly competent, the wood supply is of excellent quality and located nearby, the sawmill is very modern and our partners are quite capable of supplying the sawmill with the required fibre."

Headquartered in Montreal, Stone-Consolidated is a publicly-traded company and one of the world's largest suppliers of standard/recycled newsprint and uncoated groundwood papers. It also has wood harvesting and sawmill operations. The Company has production facilities in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, with sales offices in Montreal, Greenwich (Connecticut), Chicago, Dallas, Scottsdale (Arizona), London and Brussels and a worldwide network of representative agents.

CONTACT: Stone-Consolidated Corporation

Denise Dallaire, 514/394-2161