NewPage to Close Coated Paper Mill in Whiting, WI

MIAMISBURG, OH—Dec. 8, 2010—NewPage Corp. announced that it will close its Whiting, WI, mill at the end of February 2011. The Whiting mill currently operates two paper machines, which produce approximately 250,000 tons annually of coated paper used by the publishing and printing industry, with a primary focus on mail-order catalog, magazine and retailer end uses.

“This remains a difficult time for the paper industry, for NewPage and for many of our customers,” said George Martin, NewPage president and CEO. “While we have seen modest recovery in our coated markets, we continue to monitor the supply and demand balance and make the difficult choices needed to avoid oversupplying those markets. NewPage has the capacity and operational flexibility to produce both coated groundwood and coated freesheet on the same machines at other facilities. Therefore, we do not expect any interruptions in service to our customers while closing the Whiting mill, which is our highest cost-per-ton coated groundwood mill.”

Approximately 360 employees will be affected by the shutdown of the Whiting mill.

Revised Guidance for Fourth Quarter 2010

NewPage also announced that it expects Adjusted EBITDA (net income (loss) attributable to the company before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and adjusted to exclude certain items such as non-cash expenses and gains and losses on sales of assets) for the fourth quarter of 2010 to be between $125 million and $135 million and that it expects net income (loss) attributable to the company for the fourth quarter of 2010 to be between $(275) million and $(315) million compared to Adjusted EBITDA and net income (loss) attributable to the company of $88 million and $(55) million, respectively, during the fourth quarter of 2009. Net income (loss) for the fourth quarter of 2010 includes the estimated one-time effect of asset impairments (principally Whiting) of $215 million to $240 million and other closure costs estimated at $10 million to $15 million.

To learn more about NewPage Corp., visit www.NewPageCorp.com

About NewPage Corp.
Headquartered in Miamisburg, OH, NewPage is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America, based on production capacity, with $3.1 billion in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2009. The company's product portfolio is the broadest in North America and includes coated freesheet, coated groundwood, supercalendered, newsprint and specialty papers. These papers are used for corporate collateral, commercial printing, magazines, catalogs, books, coupons, inserts, newspapers, packaging applications and direct mail advertising.

NewPage owns paper mills in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nova Scotia, Canada. Without giving effect to the closure of the Whiting, Wisconsin mill, these mills have a total annual production capacity of approximately 4.4 million tons of paper, including approximately 3.2 million tons of coated paper, approximately 1.0 million tons of uncoated paper and approximately 200,000 tons of specialty paper. To learn more, visit www.NewPageCorp.com

Source: Company press release.