Rayonier Advanced Materials

Spun off from a larger forest-products company in 2014, converts wood pulp into high-purity specialty cellulose for cigarette filters, LCD screens, and pharmaceutical and food uses, alongside commodity dissolving pulp, paperboard, high-yield pulp, and a biomaterials line built on bioethanol and lignosulfonates.

Manufacturing runs through mills in Georgia and Florida, a French plant known for high-viscosity ether-grade cellulose, and a Canadian site that kept paperboard and high-yield pulp running after its dissolving-pulp line closed. Most revenue comes from outside the United States.

Customers qualify a dissolving-pulp grade over several years before switching, favoring a few established producers — cellulose specialties, sold this way, remains the primary profit driver. Cellulose-acetate demand tracks a shrinking cigarette-filter market, and bioethanol volumes depend on European renewable-fuel rules. An interim executive office runs the company while the board weighs a sale, merger, or standalone path.