MILLINOCKET (AP) – The former Great Northern Paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket may be getting a new owner.

Toronto-based Fraser Papers, which already operates the mills on behalf of Katahdin Paper Co. LLC, is seeking to purchase the mills outright, Fraser said in its financial report for the second quarter.

About 550 people work at the two mills, which have a combined annual output of roughly 250,000 tons of paper used in phone books and reference materials and 190,000 tons of paper used in magazines, catalogs and direct mailing inserts.

The mills, which employed 4,500 at their peak in the early 1980s, were acquired out of bankruptcy in 2003 by Brascan Corp. of Toronto, now known as Brookfield Asset Management.

Fraser, which owns mills in Madawaska and neighboring Edmundston, New Brunswick, has maintained options on the Katahdin Paper mills since it began operating them for Brookfield, said Serge Sorokin, mill manager. The Madawaska and Edmundston mills together employ 1,180 people.

“This potential acquisition is consistent with Fraser Papers’ stated strategy of focusing on select markets where Fraser Papers can establish sustainable competitive advantage,” Fraser said in its quarterly report.

In addition to its management arrangement with Fraser for the Katahdin Paper mills, the companies are linked through Brookfield’s ownership stake of more than 40 percent of Fraser.

Fraser’s other properties include a sawmill in Ashland, a pulp and paper mill in Gorham, N.H., and a pulp mill in Thurso, Quebec.

Earlier this year, Fraser closed its mill in Berlin, N.H., with a loss of 250 jobs.