Northern Wisconsin Mill Towns Brace for Worst

Wausau Paper is busy fending off the most high-profile hostile corporate battle Wisconsin has seen in years. Manhattan-based hedge fund Starboard Value LP acquired the largest single stake in Wausau in 2011 and since then has pressured the company to break itself up.

Pressure from Starboard last year prompted Wausau to shut its oldest mill in the village of Brokaw, the mill that founded the company in 1899. Starboard's pressure also compelled Wausau to make an abrupt announcement in January that it will sell its remaining mills in the Midwest, including Rhinelander (WI), Mosinee (WI) and a third across the state.