Clearwater Paper Redeems $275 Million of 4.75% Senior Notes Due 2028

Clearwater Paper is redeeming the full $275 million principal amount of its 4.75% senior notes due 2028 on October 3, 2026, retiring a bond issue that had been scheduled to mature nearly two years later. The redemption follows the company’s September refinancing, which replaced its existing notes and credit facilities with a new term loan and revolving credit facility.

According to Clearwater Paper’s Sept. 21 Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company notified noteholders on Sept. 18 that it had elected to redeem the notes in full on Oct. 3. Clearwater said it had irrevocably deposited with the trustee sufficient funds to complete the redemption, using proceeds from the new credit agreement.

The notes carry a 4.75% coupon and mature on Aug. 15, 2028. Under the indenture, Clearwater can redeem the notes at 100% of principal at this stage of the call schedule, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but not including, the redemption date. The company said accrued interest through Oct. 3 totals about $1.7 million.

Redemption follows a broader refinancing completed in September

Clearwater announced on Sept. 21 that it had refinanced its senior notes due in 2028, its existing term revolver credit facility and its asset-based revolving credit facility. In their place, the company put in a new financing package that includes a $275 million term loan and a $200 million revolving credit facility, with roughly $15 million outstanding at closing, according to a company press release.

The revolving credit facility also includes an uncommitted $100 million increase option, subject to lender participation, the delivery of Clearwater’s 2027 year-end financial statements and other customary conditions. The new credit agreement matures on Sept. 18, 2031, giving Clearwater a longer runway than the redeemed notes would have provided on their own.

In practical terms, the refinancing swaps out a public bond maturity in 2028 for a bank-loan structure that also stretches the company’s long-term debt profile to 2031. Clearwater said borrowings under the new credit agreement were used to terminate the existing asset-based lending facility and to fund the redemption price for the senior notes.

The 8-K did not present the call as a discretionary return of surplus cash. Instead, the filing and press release both tie the redemption directly to the refinancing completed on Sept. 18. That distinction matters because it shows the move as a liability-management step within a larger recasting of the debt stack, not an isolated capital-markets event.

The redemption removes one bond issue but not Clearwater’s leverage focus

For bondholders, the immediate mechanics are straightforward. The entire issue is being called, so no portion of the 2028 notes is expected to remain outstanding after Oct. 3. Once the redemption is completed, the notes should cease to be part of Clearwater’s funded debt mix, leaving the new term loan and revolving facility as the main pieces of this refinancing package.

Calling the notes at par is also notable. Clearwater is redeeming them at 100% of principal rather than at a premium tied to a make-whole calculation. The extra cash outlay disclosed by the company comes from accrued interest, which it quantified at roughly $1.7 million through the redemption date. For a company replacing one financing structure with another, that makes the arithmetic of the call relatively simple: principal repayment, accrued interest and the transition to new borrowings.

From a maturity-management perspective, the refinancing reduces near-to-medium-term pressure by pushing the main maturity involved in this package from 2028 to 2031. That does not mean Clearwater’s balance sheet stops mattering. It means the company has exchanged one set of obligations for another with a longer tenor and a different lender structure.

Management framed the refinancing as a way to extend debt maturities and create greater certainty as Clearwater works through its long-term strategy. That language is consistent with the objective facts disclosed in the filing: the notes are being redeemed in full, the prior facilities are being replaced and the new agreement runs for five years from Sept. 18, 2026.

Recent operating results help explain why maturity extension matters

Clearwater entered this refinancing after a difficult second quarter. In late July, the company reported net sales of $375 million for the second quarter of 2026, a net loss from continuing operations of $21 million and negative adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations of $8 million. Management attributed the earnings pressure mainly to lower market pricing and the timing of a planned major maintenance outage at the Lewiston, Idaho facility.

At the same time, the quarter was not without balance-sheet progress. Clearwater said it reduced net debt by $59 million during the quarter and by $50 million year to date, helped by working-capital reductions, tax refunds and additional representation and warranty insurance proceeds. That mix of weaker earnings and active debt reduction provides useful context for a refinancing aimed at extending maturities.

The company also said second-quarter sales volumes rose 8% from a year earlier, while paperboard average net selling price fell 9%. That pattern helps explain why management has been emphasizing cost actions and operational execution alongside balance-sheet management. The refinancing does not solve Clearwater’s operating challenges on its own, but it does give the company a more extended debt timetable while it works to improve results.

Clearwater has not yet reported third-quarter results, so the next major operating checkpoint will come with its next earnings release. By then, the $275 million of 4.75% senior notes due 2028 are expected to have been fully redeemed, making the October call an important marker in the company’s broader effort to reshape its financing profile.