MeadWestvaco has sold its papers business and related assets for $2.3 billion to Cerberus Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm. Cerebus said it plans to create a privately held company based in Dayton, Ohio.

The papers business includes mills in Chillicothe and Escanaba, Mich.; Luke, Md.; Wickliffe, Ky.; Rumford, Maine; and nearly 900,000 acres of forest in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Peter Vogel, president of MeadWestvaco's papers business, will become CEO of the as yet unnamed new company, which will employ 6,300 people.