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Posted inBusiness

N.H. firm plans to buy mills in Maine

A private equity firm plans to buy the closed paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket and reopen them, eventually employing more than 400 people in a region that now has an unemployment rate of 21 percent.

As part of the deal, the state would assume ownership of a toxic landfill in East Millinocket. A bill that Gov. Paul LePage signed into law in June allows the state to buy the landfill and caps the state’s liability for cleanup and containment costs at $17 million.

Under the agreement, the state will not accept the landfill unless the buyer, Cate Street Capital of Portsmouth, N.H., agrees to reopen the mills, said George Gervais, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.