GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A business partnership between Appleton Papers and a Texas investment firm has been scrapped. In a statement today, both Appleton and the Hicks Acquisition group said they mutually agreed to end the proposed combination due to quote, “volatile market conditions.” They did not elaborate. The arrangement was first announced about two months ago. It would have created a publicly held company with a new name and a new strategic emphasis. At the time, Appleton said it was going to transform itself from a paper producer to quote, “a company focused on coating formulations and applications, and specialty chemicals.” And the new name was to be “Appvion” – a combination of the terms “applied innovation.” Appleton Papers is based in its name-sake city, and it employs around 17-hundred people.