Toilet paper and paper towelmaker Gorham Paper & Tissue, an employer of over 100 people in northern New Hampshire, has filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to sell itself as its owner seeks to unload assets, so it can repay creditors.

The manufacturer, owned by Zohar III Corp, filed for Chapter 11 protection Nov. 4 in Delaware. The New Hampshire-based company listed as much as $100 million in liabilities.

Zohar has agreed to sell the mill assets to Behrens Investment Group, a New York-based investment company. Under the deal, Behrens would acquire most of Gorham Paper & Tissue and its subsidiary, White Mountain Tissue, for $8.75 million in cash and the as sumption of several million dollars in liabilities.

Behrens, the “stalking horse bidder” in the bankruptcy auction, has agreed to provide financing to allow Gorham Paper & Tissue to keep operating through the proceedings.

Berlin Mayor Paul Grenier told the Berlin Sun that he had a meeting with Behrens officials and said they believe they can make the mill profitable. He said the investor has had its engineers going over the plant for three or four months.

If Behrens is successful in obtaining the mill, Grenier said one immediate focus will be modernizing the energy usage. He said, long range, Behrens is interested in adding converting equipment.

— JEFF FEINGOLD