Expansion
In 1985, Cascades opened a Research and Development Center in 1985 in Kingsey Falls. The facility became the largest private Canadian Research and Development Center in the pulp and paper industry.
Cascades then created Cascades Énergie. This subsidiary controlled a brand new cogeneration plant powered by natural gas, the first in Canada. Its mandate was to provide the energy required by all the Cascades mills in Kingsey Falls. The success of this project enabled Cascades to invest further in the prospective energy sector with the acquisition of Boralex in 1995. Today, Boralex's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange in which Cascades holds a 34% interest.
Cascades Énergie paved the way for a series of acquisitions in which Cascades' activities were largely diversified. The purchase of Rolland and Paperboard Industries Corporation in 1992, Perkins Papers in 1995, Provincial Papers in 1997 and, that same year, the creation of Norampac in partnership with Domtar, led to the restructuring of Cascades into five distinct corporate groups whose operations were focused as much in the sector of specialized packaging as in those of containerboard, tissue paper, fine papers and boxboard.
On an international level, Cascades' expansion continued in Europe with the acquisition of the boxboard mill in Arnsberg in Germany in 1997 and the start-up of a sheeting operation in Wednesbury in the United Kingdom in 1998.
In 2001, Cascades acquired mills in Pennsylvania and in Wisconsin. Two years later, the group set up operations in Alberta, New York, Arizona, Oregon and Tennessee. In 2004, the boxboard sector stood out with the acquisition of Dopaco Inc.,[2] a leader in the packaging products sector destined for the quick service restaurant industry. Norampac proceeded with the implementation, between 2001 and 2006, of several ultra-modern corrugated cardboard mills in Canada and in the United States.
In 2004, Cascades created in Europe four new companies in Luxembourg (Cascades Luxembourg Sarl, Norampac Luxembourg Sarl, Cascades Hungary Ltd Luxembourg Branch and Norampac Ltd Luxembourg Branch). Beginning of 2010 Cascades Canada Inc Luxembourg Branch was created, and with the closure of Cascade(s) Duffel NV in Belgium, the closure of Norampac Ltd Luxembourg Branch and the existing Pulp & Paper Cascades NV (become BV ?) in the Netherlands, that carries to four the number of companies in service in 2012 into the Benelux without any co-worker who works on it. Norampac Luxembourg Sarl was closed in September 2008 by incorporation into Cascades Luxembourg Sarl (new capital February 2012: USD 64 933 600,00) and beginning of February 2012, Cascades Canada Inc Luxemburg Branch changed her name to Cascades Canada ULC Luxembourg Branch.
In summer 2017, Cascades opened a new mill in Scappoose, Oregon. The Cascades Tissue Group Oregon converting plant employed 80 full-time workers in the production of its paper products.[3]
