Stora Enso has announced that it has completed the divestment of its Maxau paper production site in Germany, and all related assets to Schwarz Produktion, part of Schwarz Group.
The transaction will reduce Stora Enso's annual SC (supercalendered) paper capacity by 530,000 tonnes. Based on the 2022 figures, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso's annual sales by approximately €385 million.
Subject to closing date adjustments, Stora Enso will book a one-time disposal gain of approximately €55 million in its IFRS operating profit in the first quarter of 2023, considered as an item affecting comparability.
Divestment Process
The divestment announced on 13 September 2022 was completed 1 March after regulatory approvals. The enterprise value of the transaction is approximately €210 million.
This transaction is part of the earlier announced plan to divest four of Stora Enso's five paper production sites. The plan was concluded earlier this year when Stora Enso signed an agreement to divest its paper production site in Hylte and discontinued the Anjala site divestment process.
The divestment of the Nymölla paper site in Sweden was completed on 2 January with ownership transferred to Sylvamo.
The move is in line with its strategy to focus on long-term growth potential for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations, the company said.
Renewable Bioenergy
In February, Stora Enso announced it will invest approximately €30 million in its Heinola Fluting Mill in Finland to renew the energy set-up and process equipment at the site.
Following the investment, the site will be able to replace the remaining fossil-based fuel systems with renewable bioenergy.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest packaging news. Article by Robert McHugh. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
