MONTREAL,
May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -
AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products
(NYSE: ABH) (TSX: ABH), today announced that its Board of Directors
has authorized the repurchase of up to 10% of the Company's common
stock for an aggregate purchase price of up to US$100 million. The repurchase program will be
funded using the Company's available cash.
"We are taking advantage of our strong financial
position to act on an attractive opportunity to return cash to
shareholders," said Richard Garneau,
President and Chief Executive Officer. "The Company will continue
to manage its capital with the utmost discipline, carefully
balancing initiatives to return cash to shareholders with other
considerations, such as pursuing sound capital investments and
opportunities to further increase Resolute's earnings power.
We are committed to enhancing shareholder value in the long
term."
The Company is authorized to repurchase from
time to time shares of its outstanding common stock on the open
market or in privately negotiated transactions in the United States. The timing and amount of
stock repurchases will depend on a variety of factors, including
the market conditions as well as corporate and regulatory
considerations. The share repurchase program may be suspended,
modified or discontinued at any time and the Company has no
obligation to repurchase any amount of its common stock under the
program. The repurchase program has no set expiration date. The
company intends to make all repurchases in compliance with
applicable regulatory guidelines and to administer the plan in
accordance with applicable laws, including Rule 10b-18 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
About Resolute Forest Products
Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in
the forest products industry with a diverse range of products,
including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and
wood products. The Company owns or operates 21 pulp and paper mills
and 23 wood products facilities in the
United States, Canada and
South Korea. Marketing its
products in more than 90 countries, Resolute has third-party
certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest
management standards. The shares of Resolute Forest Products,
formerly doing business as AbitibiBowater, trade under the stock
symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto
Stock Exchange.
Resolute and other member companies of the
Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental
organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest
Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation
issues that meet the goal of balancing equally the three pillars of
sustainability linked to human activities: environmental,
social and economic. Resolute is also a member of the World
Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, in which businesses
establish ambitious targets to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and work aggressively toward achieving them.
Cautionary Statements Regarding
Forward-looking Information
Statements in this press release that are not
reported financial results or other historical information of
AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products,
are "forward-looking statements" and may be identified by the use
of forward-looking terminology such as the words "should", "would",
"could", "will", "may", "expect", "believe", "anticipate",
"attempt", "project" and other terms with similar meaning
indicating possible future events or potential impact on Resolute's
business or shareholders, including Resolute's intention to
repurchase shares of its common stock from time to time under its
stock repurchase program and the source of funding therefor.
The reader is cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not
guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on
management's current assumptions, beliefs and expectations, all of
which involve a number of business risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially. The potential
risks and uncertainties that could cause Resolute's plans to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in this press release
include, but are not limited to, the market price of Resolute's
stock prevailing from time to time, the nature of other investment
opportunities presented to Resolute, the Company's financial
performance and its cash flows from operations, general economic
conditions, and all other potential risks and uncertainties set
forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of
Resolute's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2011, filed with the SEC
and Resolute's other filings with the Canadian securities
regulatory authorities.
All forward-looking statements in this press
release are expressly qualified by the cautionary statements
contained or referred to above and in Resolute's other filings with
the SEC and the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.
Resolute disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law.
SOURCE RESOLUTE FOREST PRODUCTS