ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997                TAG: 9704150101
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON THE ROANOKE TIMES

PAPER PLANTS FOR SALE ALL 200 JOBS IN ROANOKE ARE SAFE

Chesapeake Corp. plans to focus on specialty packaging and tissues after selling four factories next month.

Chesapeake Corp., a Richmond packaging and paper company, plans to sell its Roanoke box-making plant to a Canadian company next month.

The buyer expects no major changes, which means the jobs of the plant's 200 employees are secure, Chesapeake spokeswoman Susan Greenbaum said Monday.

For a price of $508 million, St. Laurent Paperboard Inc. of Montreal is set to buy four box plants - at 802 Kyle Ave. in Roanoke and others in Richmond, Baltimore and North Tonawanda, N.Y., - plus Chesapeake Corp.'s mill at West Point, Va., east of Richmond.

The two companies agreed on a preliminary deal last week. A closing is expected in May, Greenbaum said.

St. Laurent makes high-strength, white linerboard, a primary product of the West Point mill. The mills can manufacture 960,000 tons of kraft pulp and paper products in a year.

Chesapeake Corp. said the sale would help it focus on its faster-growing businesses of making speciality packaging and tissues.

"This deal is positive for both parties, as it it consistent with the strategies of each company," said J. Carter Fox, president and chief executive of Chesapeake Corp.

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