The Finnish company KaiCell Fibers is about to complete a bio-refinery project in Paltamo, Finland. The goal is to build a factory for the production of pulp and bio-products in Paltamo with a capacity of 500-600,000 tons of hard cellulose and soft wood and 100-400,000 tons of fibres for textile production, specifically Arbron, a textile fibre raw material. Production is expected to begin in 2020. At the moment private offers are being placed, mainly by a group of regional investors. The ownership base of the company would thus be strengthened, and further efforts would help turn Paltamo into a production facility.
The private offer will be paving the way for structural changes and the actual implementation of the project. Within this framework, the Chief Executive Officer, Jukka Kantola, has resigned. The company plans to hire a new CEO as soon as possible. Hannu Heikkinen is currently serving as Managing Director, while Eero Suutari is still President.
«It has been a rare privilege to be part of Finnish industrial history, and now seems the right time to hand over to the team which will be in charge of building the site» says Kantola. «We feel that we have done our bit and laid solid foundations. For this I feel that credit is due to our incredibly motivated and productive team. I am confident that the new organisation will have an excellent opportunity to lead KaiCell to a final investment decision».
«Both personally and on behalf of the Board», adds Suutari, «I wish to thank Jukka Kantola for his excellent. He and his company NC Partnering Oy / Ltd have played a pivotal role in starting this adventure».
As part of the corporate agreement, NC Partnering has acquired the development of the Arbron textile fibre.