Peter Brant


Peter M. Brant is an American industrialist.

Early life and education

Brant was raised in Jamaica Estates, Queens, the son of Lily and Murray Brant. Brant's father – who emigrated from a small town near the border of Romania and Bulgaria – co-founded the paper converter Brant-Allen Industries with his cousin H. Joseph Allen. He is Jewish. He has one sister, Irene Brant Zelinsky and was a childhood friend of Donald Trump. Brant attended the University of Colorado but did not graduate instead leaving to work for his father's company.

Career

Newsprint

Brant went to work at Brant-Allen Industries, a paper conversion company co-founded by his father, Murray Brant. In the early 1970s, Brant and a cousin, Joseph Allen — the son of Murray Brant's business partner — led the company into the manufacturing side of the business and expanded the company into paper mill ownership purchasing a mill in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec and partnering with the Washington Post and Dow Jones to purchase a mill in Ashland, Virginia. In the early 2000s, as paper demand continued to decline, Brant embarked on a buying spree purchasing a second Quebec mill in 2004 for $205 million and a third Quebec mill in 2006 for $135 million. In 2008, he bought out his partner and changed the name of the company to White Birch Paper Company. Also in 2008, he purchased SP Newsprint Co for $305 million, a newsprint manufacturer with operations in Oregon and Georgia. The purchase gave Brant control of 22% of the North American newsprint market, second to AbitibiBowater with 43%. Brant expanded SP Newsprint into paper recycling operating 23 recycling facilities through its SP Recycling unit.
In a court filing around 2007, Brandt said the ailing newsprint market and the recession had slashed his net worth to less than $500 million from $1.4 billion that year.
In February 2010, White Birch Paper restructured under Chapter 11 proceedings, due to excessive debt and declining demand for newsprint. The company emerged from bankruptcy in January 2012 and closed its main pulp and paper mill in Quebec City, sending home more than 600 workers. White Birch owns two other mills in Quebec, Canada and one in Ashland, Virginia. In 2012, Brant pledged a portion of his art collection as security to purchase White Birch Paper out of bankruptcy in partnership with Black Diamond Capital Management LLC for $94.5 million in cash and $78 million in debt. Brant remains as CEO of White Birch Paper.
In November 2011, SP Newsprint Co filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to excessive debt and declining demand for newsprint. SP Newsprint operates two mills in Dublin, Georgia and Newberg, Oregon and 23 recycling facilities. In September 2012, SP Newsprint was purchased out of bankruptcy by SP Fiber Technologies LLC for an undisclosed amount.
In May 2016, Brandt merged the magazines Art in America with its principal competitor ARTnews. Artnet News reported his company announced the ARTnews would go to a quarterly publication schedule, down from monthly. The latter had run an article asking whether the Brant Foundation was a tax scam or an art investment vehicle.
In May 2017, White Birch Paper announced that it would idle paper making operations at its Bear Island newsprint mill in Ashland, Virginia. The Bear Island mill produced 240,000 metric tons of newsprint annually.
In 2018, Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of Variety Magazine, acquired ARTnews and Art in America from Brant.''

Brant Publications, Inc.

Brant is the owner and chairman of Brant Publications, Inc., located in New York City, founded in 1984. BPI publishes three magazines:
Brant's interest in art also led him into film production. He was a producer of L’Amour in 1973 and Andy Warhol's Bad in 1977. Brant was an executive producer of the award-winning films Basquiat and Pollock. Brant was also co-producer of the Peabody- and Emmy-award-winning PBS documentary, . Brant was also a producer of The Homesman.

Art collector and The Brant Foundation Art Study Center

Brant bought his first pieces of art after turning an $8,000 investment into several hundred thousand dollars as a young man. His first purchases according to The New York Times, included "a couple of Warhols and, later, a major Franz Kline.” In 1976, Brant commissioned Andy Warhol to paint his cocker spaniel, Ginger. Warhol made two paintings of Ginger, as well as drawings.
Brant's collection is on display to the public at the two locations of the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, in Greenwich, Connecticut and the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Brant is a member of the Advisory Council of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles named Brant to its board of trustees in December 2009.

Kentucky Derby and Polo

Brant was a member of the partnership who owned Classic winner Swale, who won both the 1984 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and was champion three-year-old that year. In addition, Brant was responsible for bringing legendary stallion Mr. Prospector to Claiborne Farm in Paris, KY. Mr. Prospector, who began his stud career in Florida in 1975 went on to be one of the most influential sires in the American Stud-Book since his first runners hit the races in 1978. Brant was the breeder of 1995 Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch. Thunder Gulch is the son of Gulch out of the mare Line of Thunder, who were both owned and bred by Brant. In addition, Brant is an accomplished polo player and at one time, was the highest-rated amateur player in the U.S. Brant is the co-founder of the Greenwich Polo Club, the Saratoga Polo Association, and the Bridgehampton Polo Club.

Personal life

Brant has five children from his first marriage to Sandra Simms ; she later married writer Ingrid Sischy Four of his children with Simms have worked for Brant companies: Christopher as president of White Birch; Ryan as director of Brant Publications, Kelly as online director Brant Publications; and Allison as director of the Brant Foundation. They divorced in 1995. On July 14, 1995, Brant married supermodel Stephanie Seymour and they have two sons and one daughter together: Peter Brant, Jr., Harry, and Lily. In 2009, the couple filed for divorce but subsequently reconciled in 2010. He has a stepson, Dylan, from Seymour's first marriage to guitarist Tom Andrews and ten grandchildren. His son Ryan Brant founded Take-Two Interactive at age 21, though ultimately left the company by 2006. Ryan Brant died in March 2019 at the age of 49.
In 1990, Brant was investigated for tax evasion resulting from reportedly having his company pay for $1 million in personal expenditures. Brant pled guilty to charges of failing to keep records and was sentenced to three months in a federal prison and $200,000 in fines.