Will Halsey be a goldmine for Ableco Finance or a money pit?

Implications: The Halsey mill has a number of valuable assets - the ability to produce Unbleached Softwood (most mills have gone out of this grade), two tissue/towelling machines, a deinking pulping operation, a pulp grade (NBSK) that is in demand all over the Pacific Rim and SE Asia and a location right on the Pacific that eliminates inland freight costs.   These would seem to indicate that the mill should operate profitably.  However, this didn't seem to be the case with the previous owners - Pope & Talbot. Ableco is getting the mill for a total of $24 million - $14 million debt assumption and $10 million cash to P&T.  The replacement cost would be in excess of US$1billion. On the downside is the productivity and age of the mill.  The two tissue machines are both 45+ years old and the mill itself is much older.  Maintenance liability has to be a concern.  The other concern is the relatively low daily production level - will there be enough tons to cover all the costs?

Analysis: High Strength (Tensile, Fold, Mullen & Tear) NBSK is highly regarded as an excellent UFS, CFS, tissue and towelling reinforcing fiber.  It is currently produced in Canada, Russia and (less and less unfortunately) in Sweden and Finland.  Unfortunately the pulp mill produces only 62,000mt/year of market pulp. However, the deinking pulp mill produces 125,000 tons/year for the 2 tissue machines and perhaps some for the open market.  The big,new, high speed paper machines which have gone into China the past 8 years and which will be going into India starting this year are very demanding.  They run best on NBSK.  Therefore it would seem that Halsey has a softwood pulp that will always be requested and carry a top price.  On the paper side, tissue and towelling is expected to grow this year, next year and the foreseeable future as more and more families become "middle class".  The mill is well positioned, freight cost wise, to service both the NW, California and the SW States.  High freight costs discourage exporting these grades.
Being able to produce Unbleached Softwood (UBK) is a definite asset.  Both Lee & Mann and Nine Dragons have a growing appetite for this grade to augment the OCC and ONP they purchase for their containerboard machines.  UBK is also used in fiber reinforced cement, electrical products (i.e. transformer board) and some specialty paper products where brightness doesn't matter.
So...with all these seemingly valuable benefits, why didn't the other 4 bidders go higher?   Why was the winning bid only $24 million?  Can it be that their due diligence showed the age of the mill and small size to be disadvantages that cannot be overcome?  What will happen in the next inevitable downturn?  Time will tell!