developing the company further. The latter was chosen, resulting in NorskeCanada purchasing Pacifica Papers on 27 August 2001, giving it control over Port Alberni Mill and Powell River Mill. Two months previously Pacifica Papers had sold Mackenzie Mill. The Pacifica Papers acquisition was funded through the issuing of new shares, diluting Norske Skog's ownership to 36.1%. More new shares were issued in May 2002, reducing Norske Skog's ownership further to 30.6%. Unlike the rest of the group, Norske Skog lacked the direct control over the assets in Canada. CEO Russ Horner was part of Norske Skog's corporate executive board until the share was diluted. From then the two companies were legally regarded as competitors and the two were not allowed to cooperate closely, for instance through joint sales offices. The company acquired Newtech Recycling of Coquitlam in December 2003. Western Canada's first and largest paper recycling plant was bought to vertically integrate a source of deinked paper. The acquisition was partially paid in cash, partially in shares. The site handled 163,000 tonnes of old newsprint from British Columbia and Alberta, as well as more remote sources, predominantly Minnesota and Kansas City, shipped by train to Coquitlam. Once deinked, the pulp was sent by barge to Crofton Mill. By 2005 NorskeCanada had operated with a deficit in 13 of 19 quarters, and Norske Skog started considering its options for the company. Pöyry was hired to consider the operations, and concluded that the mills were not competitive for export to Asia, a prime target market for Norske Skog. The paper particularly emphasized inefficient mill designs which led to higher operating costs. The first step was taken in October 2005, when the general meeting approved the new name, Catalyst Paper, to signal that the group was leaving Norske Skog. The Norwegian group sold its 29.4 percent of Catalyst for $186 million in a bought deal on 30 January 2006. At the time Catalyst's four mills made it North America's fourth-largest producer of printing papers, with an annual production of two million tonnes of paper and half a million tonnes of kraft pulp. Internationalization Catalyst's first US investment was Snowflake Mill, which was acquired in 2008. Catalyst took steps to upgrade the mill, including investments to allow the plant to produce finer grades of paper. Snowflake was an early user of deinkling pulp and was amongst the first in the US to accept single-source