Pixelle Specialty Solutions will cease all production at its Chillicothe plant in less than two weeks, and Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he didn鈥檛 have 鈥渁nything good鈥� to share ahead of the slated closure date.
Although interested parties had put bids out with Pixelle at the beginning of July, DeWine told the Statehouse News Bureau it has yet to result in any purchase.
鈥淲e have been aggressive, particularly through JobsOhio and J.P. Nauseef, to bring companies in to look at this site. So far, we鈥檝e got no interest,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淲e will continue to do that, but I don鈥檛 have anything that would give us any optimism at this point. We鈥檙e still open to bringing companies in. We鈥檝e brought dozens of them in.鈥�
Pixelle and its now-parent, the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, took over at the paper mill in 2019. H.I.G. publicized its decision to permanently close its Ohio plant earlier this year, though U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said he convinced H.I.G. to delay until Christmas.
That was Good Friday, when Moreno and other elected officials brought together a large crowd of residents on the edge of Chillicothe. They celebrated, flooding the sunbaked parking lot of a credit union, the faded red-and-white smoke stacks puffing behind them.
Now, according to another government mandated WARN mass layoff notice, Pixelle said it will shutter Aug. 10. Moreno sees the move as a 鈥渢otal disgrace,鈥� he said earlier this month, but is confident the site will draw a potential buyer.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud of the fact that our involvement at least got 60 more days of payroll than it would have otherwise,鈥� Moreno said then in an interview.
Behind the scenes, federal and state offices, like Moreno鈥檚, were holding weekly strategy meetings, which have been canceled in recent weeks. JobsOhio, the state鈥檚 powerful, private economic arm, was courting potential buyers with lucrative incentive packages.
More than 700 mill workers will be without work absent an eleventh-hour buyer.
