BUCKSPORT – Officials at Verso Paper cannot discuss the potential local impact of the plans for an initial public offering of company common stock.

The company is in a “quiet time” leading up to the IPO, according to Bill Cohen, the Verso spokesman for the company’s two Maine mills.

“We just can’t talk about it,” Cohen said Thursday.

Under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, that quiet time extends for at least 25 days after the IPO, according to Kathi Rowzie, a consultant working for Verso Paper at the company’s headquarters in Memphis, Tenn.

“We’re not allowed to talk about it at all other than what is already available,” Rowzie said.

Papers detailing the IPO were filed Monday with the SEC. NewPage Group Inc., which owns a mill in Rumford, also has filed papers for a public offering of its stock.

No date has been set for Verso’s IPO, which would make up to 18,750,000 shares of Verso common stock available to the public. With the IPO price expected to be around $17 per share, the sale could raise close to $300 million for the company, according to documents filed this week with the SEC.

The company plans to use most of the IPO funds to pay down existing debt stemming from the purchase of the coated paper division from International Paper Co. in 2006. Apollo Growth Management LLC purchased the IP assets and created the stand-alone company Verso Paper to own and operate the company’s mills.

According to the SEC filing, the company expects to repay as much as $287 million of the debt it owes from that purchase by which Verso acquired International Paper’s four coated paper mills, including the two Maine mills in Bucksport and Jay.

Verso also plans to use the funds for “general corporate purposes,” including working capital, expansion of production capabilities, research and development, purchase of capital equipment and potential acquisitions.

“We believe that there may be opportunities to participate in the current trend of consolidation in the North American coated paper industry,” the company noted in the SEC filing. “We intend to evaluate and pursue acquisitions and strategic partnerships that we believe will increase our profitability, enhance economies of scale, and augment or diversify our existing customer base.”

Although Verso is offering the sale of stock to the public, the company will remain under the control of its parent company, Apollo Global Management LLC, which will continue to hold 67 percent of Verso stock.

According to SEC documents, Verso will apply to have the common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “VRS.”

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