Mercer International Inc. Files $500,000,000 Shelf Registration

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercer International Inc. MERC MRI ("Mercer") today announced the concurrent filing of a universal shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the "Shelf Registration Statement") with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and a shelf prospectus (the "Canadian Shelf") with certain Canadian securities regulators. The Shelf Registration Statement, when declared effective by the SEC, and the Canadian Shelf when receipted by Canadian securities regulators, will allow Mercer to offer and sell, from time to time in one or more public offerings, up to $500,000,000 of debt securities, common stock, preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock or debt securities, or any combination thereof. The specifics of any future offering, along with the prices, terms, and the use of proceeds of any such securities offered by Mercer, will be determined at the time of any such offering and will be described in detail in a prospectus supplement filed at the time of any such offering.

Mr. Jimmy S.H. Lee, President and Chairman, stated: "This filing provides us with the flexibility to take advantage of financing opportunities when market conditions are favorable to us."

Each of the Shelf Registration Statement and the Canadian Shelf has been filed but neither has yet become effective. The securities registered may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the Shelf Registration Statement becomes effective and the Canadian Shelf has been receipted.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state, province or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under securities laws of any such state, province or jurisdiction. An offering of the securities covered by the Shelf Registration Statement and the Canadian Shelf will only be by means of a written prospectus supplement.

Copies of the prospectus included in the Shelf Registration Statement and the Canadian Shelf may be obtained at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively, or directly from Mercer by writing to Investor Relations, Suite 1120, 700 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6C 1G8 or by calling (604)-684-1099.

Mercer International Inc. is a global pulp manufacturing company. To obtain further information on the company, please visit its web site at http://www.mercerint.com.

The preceding includes forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Words such as "expects", "anticipates", "projects", "intends", "will", "believes", "estimates", "may", "could" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: the highly cyclical nature of our business, raw material costs, our level of indebtedness, competition, foreign exchange and interest rate fluctuations, our use of derivatives, expenditures for capital projects, environmental regulation and compliance, disruptions to our production, market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our SEC reports.