Peter M. Brant
Peter M. Brant (born March 1, 1947) is an American industrialist, businessman, art collector and philanthropist.
Early life and education
Brant was raised in Jamaica Estates, Queens, a childhood friend of Donald Trump. Brant's father, Murray Brant – who emigrated from a small town near the border of Romania and Bulgaria – cofounded the paper converter (primarily converting paper into newsprint) Brant-Allen Industries with his cousin H. Joseph Allen. Brant attended the University of Colorado but did not graduate instead leaving to work for his father's company.
Career
Newsprint
Brant went to work at Brant-Allen Industries, a paper conversion company co-founded by his father, Murray Brant. In the early '70s, Brant and a cousin, Joseph Allen — the son of Murray Brant’s business partner — led the company into the manufacturing side of the business and expanded the company into paper mill (converting pulp into paper) ownership purchasing a mill in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec and partnering with the Washington Post and Dow Jones to purchase a mill in Ashland, Virginia. In the early 2000s, as paper demand continued to decline, Brant embarked on a buying spree purchasing a second Quebec mill in 2004 for $205 million (from Enron) and a third Quebec mill in 2006 for $135 million. In 2008, he bought out his partner and changed the name of the company to White Birch Paper Company. Also in 2008, he purchased SP Newsprint Co for $305 million, a newsprint manufacturer with operations in Oregon and Georgia. The purchase gave Brant control of 22% of the North American newsprint market, second to AbitibiBowater with 43%. Brant expanded SP Newsprint into paper recycling operating 23 recycling facilities through its SP Recycling unit.
