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Columbia Pulp started in 2015, halted operations in February, 2022, foreclosure action was initiated in March, 2022, and Paladin Management Group was appointed as receiver in August, 2022.
DAYTON–Pending approval of a final order on January 3, 2024 in a King County Superior Court room, the defunct Columbia Pulp I, LLC will be no more.
UMB Bank, N.A. was left holding the bag to the tune of $246,378,528.25 after two secured claims were satisfied by the proceeds from the sale of Columbia Pulp's assets earlier this year, information in court documents pertaining to the Columbia Pulp I, LLC receivership show. Columbia County held a secured tax claim of $2.228 million, and the Receivership Advance from trustee UMB Bank, N.A. of $11 million (plus interest) received 10% of the $12,841,000 amount, or $1,307,000. Next in line was UMB Bank, N.A. with its $246 million secured claim, which did not receive any funds.
Receiver Paladin Management Group petitioned the court on December 18 for approval of the Receiver's Final Report and termination of the receivership. Another action under the petition is to initiate the quit claim deed for the Lyons Ferry property, according the receiver Lance Miller's declaration. In the sale of Columbia Pulp's assets, a local start-up company, Palouse Fiber, acquired the Lyons Ferry site.
Columbia Pulp was sold in three transactions. For $550,000, Columbia Straw Supply LLC, straw inventory and a truck scale were sold in July, 2022.
The Pomeroy assets were sold for $150,000 in cash plus a 15% equity in the Pomeroy buyer's parent entity. This transaction closed August 30, 2022.
The Lyons Ferry assets of machinery and equipment were sold for $3 million to a consortium of companies from Illinois, Florida and Delaware. The Lyons Ferry property was sold to Palouse Enterprises LLC affiliated with Palouse Fiber, purchaser of the Pomeroy assets. These sales closed August 31, 2023 and as of this time, the receiver is in the process of recording the quit claim deed to transfer the property to Palouse, court documents indicate.
Columbia Pulp I was a single-purpose limited liability company organized in Washington for the sole purpose of developing, owning and operating an agricultural waste-to-pulp manufacturing plant, where wheat and see alfalfa straw sourced within a 100-mile radius, would be processed into wet-lap pulp sold to tissue, paper, molded fiber and packaging manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest and United States. The company started in 2015, halted operations in February, 2022, foreclosure action was initiated in March, 2022, and Paladin Management Group was appointed as receiver in August, 2022.
