Stora Enso has signed an agreement to divest its Nymölla paper production, in Sweden, and all related assets to Sylvamo, a US-based global producer of uncoated paper. The enterprise value is 150 million EUR. Closing is expected in the beginning of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals.
This transaction is part of the earlier announced plan 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 potential for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterial innovations.
«Following our recent agreement to divest the Maxau site, I am pleased that we found a good, experienced owner in Sylvamo for our Nymölla site. The process to divest the remaining paper assets continues» says Seppo Parvi, CFO and Head of Paper division at Stora Enso.
Sylvamo’s plan is to integrate the Nymölla site into their global paper business, and the 520 employees in the mill organisation at Nymölla will be part of the transaction. TreeToTextile, the sustainable textile fiber company, is not part of the transaction and will continue operations at the site.
The Nymölla site’s capacity is 485,000 metric tonnes of woodfree uncoated office papers, with Multicopy as the leading paper brand. Based on the 2021 figures, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso’s annual sales by approximately 290 million EUR. Stora Enso will, at closing, book a one-time disposal loss of approximately 20 million EUR in its IFRS operating profit, as an item affecting comparability, subject to closing date adjustments.
Stora Enso announced the divestment of its Maxau paper site to the Schwarz Produktion on 13 September. The divestment process continues for Hylte and Anjala paper sites with no committed timeline for conclusion. The process has no immediate effect on Stora Enso’s paper operations which continue to serve their respective customers.