Stora Enso has signed an agreement to divest its paper production site in Hylte. Stora Enso sells Hylte paper operations to Sweden Timber but will retain Anjala site in Finland
The enterprise value is approximately EUR 18 million. Concerning the Anjala paper site in Finland, Stora Enso has decided to discontinue the divestment process. The Hylte site transaction, along with the discontinuation of the Anjala divestment, concludes Stora Enso’s plan announced in March 2022 to divest four of Stora Enso’s five paper production sites. In line with its strategy, Stora Enso’s focus is on long-term growth for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.
«I am pleased that Sweden Timber will continue to serve Hylte’s paper customers with the intent to further develop the operations. For the Anjala site, we have concluded that the benefits from retaining the site within the Group exceed the value of explored divestment opportunities» explains Seppo Parvi, CFO at Stora Enso.
The transaction does not affect the Packaging Solutions division’s formed fiber and biocomposite operations located at the Hylte site.
The Anjala paper site, together with the retained Langerbrugge paper site in Belgium, will be initially integrated into the Packaging Materials division. The Anjala site already today leverages integrated operations with Stora Enso’s neighbouring Ingerois packaging materials site, utilising synergies in raw material and energy supply. For the Langerbrugge site, the ongoing feasibility study for a potential conversion of one of the site’s two paper lines into a packaging materials line is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2023.
The retained Anjala and Langerbrugge sites will continue paper production and serving their respective customers. The previously disclosed agreement to divest the Maxau paper site in Germany to Schwarz Produktion is expected to conclude at the beginning of this year. Divestment of the Nymölla paper site in Sweden was concluded on 2 January with ownership transferred to Sylvamo.
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