Domtar focus on consolidation and sustainability to become North America’s Largest Pulp and Paper Group

Pulp and paper group, owned by Jackson Wijaya, is positioned as one of the 25 most sustainable business in the world

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, July 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jackson Wijaya, a shareholder in Domtar Corporation, is moving to lead the largest pulp and paper empire in North America. The Indonesian-born businessman intends to carry out the company's development process by expanding and consolidating factory operations, evaluating new merger and acquisition opportunities on the continent and developing a sustainability project aimed at transforming the group into a benchmark in exceptional practices in ESG in 2030.

Wijaya has implemented an ambitious M&A strategy in Canada, where he has quickly consolidated a considerable share of the pulp and paper market, with revenues that already exceed US$ 10 billion in the country. The first acquisition target was Catalyst Paper, back in 2019. Two years later, it was Domtar's turn, which ended up renaming the group previously called Paper Excellence. In 2023, the businessman incorporated the activities of Resolute Forest Products, becoming one of the ten largest global players in the forest products industry.
The objective now is to identify common activities and expenses that can be compatible and divided between group companies within the same country, reducing costs and streamlining processes.

Wijaya, 45, recently inherited sole control of Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) from his father, putting him in charge of two of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies, operating on four continents. Domtar Corporation, headquartered in Canada, operates in North America and Europe, with mills for Paper Excellence Canada, Domtar and Resolute Forest Products. APP, headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, operates primarily in Asia. Despite the fact that Wijaya is the main shareholder, the two groups operate independently from one another.

To manage business on four continents and identify strategic acquisition opportunities, Wijaya travels frequently and divides his time between his homes in Asia, Europe and North America, where he also lives with his family, consisting of three children – two teenagers currently studying in the United States, as well as a six-year-old child.

Recently, Domtar was recognized as one of the 25 most sustainable private companies in the world in a ranking by Corporate Knights. The Corporate Knights list includes companies from various sectors, including consumer goods, transportation and energy. Companies from Europe and the United Kingdom dominate the ranking. The survey includes key performance indicators (KPIs) in areas such as energy, water resources and waste, as well as governance factors such as gender diversity. Sustainable revenue and investment categories were also considered.
Domtar Corporation is currently focused on developing its first unified Sustainability Strategy, the result of a task force that began in 2023. The process involved extensive consultation with more than 500 internal and external stakeholders, including numerous interviews, surveys, meetings and workshops to outline priority goals for the period 2026 to 2030. Sustainability, the entrepreneur said, is “at the core of our business.”

The group also plans to implement a new ESG data management system across all of the conglomerate's companies. The goal is to concentrate sustainability metrics in a single location, facilitating the management of goals and the administration of all information for preparation of reports. The strategy is expected to increase the accuracy of data and the transparency of information made available to stakeholders.

Jackson Wijaya's ambitious, global business vision reflects his educational trajectory. The businessman studied in Indonesia and Singapore, and also completed a master's degree in industrial engineering at the University of Michigan in the United States. With the dot-com bust around 2001, he returned to Asia to gain practical experience in the family business – a conglomerate that, at the time, held assets in the banking, real estate and palm oil production sectors. He opted for the pulp and paper sector, starting operations in Canada in 2006 with the purchase of a pulp mill in Meadow Lake.

Extremely discreet and soft-spoken, he usually reads and fishes in his spare time. The businessman describes himself as a third-generation entrepreneur and an "active investor" whose role model is billionaire Warren Buffett. "He leaves the day-to-day management to the team in charge of the business, and that's also my style in running my companies," says Wijaya.

About Domtar

Domtar is a leading, privately held manufacturer of diversified forest products, with a workforce of nearly 14,000 employees in more than 60 locations across North America. The company has an annual production capacity of 9.1 million metric tons of pulp, paper, packaging and tissue, and approximately 3 billion board feet of lumber and other wood products. Formerly known as the Paper Excellence Group, Domtar is comprised of legacy businesses Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Domtar Corporation and Resolute Forest Products, and is owned by investor Jackson Wijaya.

Domtar prides itself on operational excellence, delivering sustainable, high-quality and cost-effective products to meet and exceed customer needs globally. The company is committed to turning sustainable wood fiber into everyday essential products. For more information, visit www.domtar.com.

Gilberto Scofield Junior
DC Comunicação
gilberto.scofield@dccomunicacao.com.br