Sappi Limited announced today that the intended sale to Aurelius Group of its Maastricht Mill in the Netherlands, its Stockstadt Mill in Germany and its Kirkniemi Mill in Finland (the “Transaction”) has not materialised within the agreed timeframe of the contractual agreement and therefore the agreement has lapsed.
Sappi received binding offers from several parties for these three mills. Following due process, the board of Sappi agreed to accept the offer from Aurelius Group, a pan-European multi-asset manager group. The transaction was subject to various standard suspensive conditions.
Steve Binnie, CEO of Sappi Limited commented: “Regretfully, and despite extensive efforts by Sappi to close the transaction the parties could not agree on fulfilling the suspensive conditions. Therefore, the transaction has lapsed. Sappi’s strategic focus remains unchanged. This includes reducing exposure to the graphic paper segment while expanding Sappi’s presence in segments including packaging and speciality papers, pulp and biomaterials.”
Marco Eikelenboom, CEO of Sappi Europe stated: “Sappi Europe will continue to manage the three mills as part of our overall portfolio, ensuring that they continue delivering value to the region and to the customers they supply.”
The mills included:
Sappi Maastricht Mill produces 260,000 ton per annum (tpa) of coated woodfree paper and paperboard mainly sold to printers and packaging converters globally.
Sappi Stockstadt Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill located in Germany, producing 145,000 tpa of pulp which is used to produce 220,000 tpa of coated and uncoated woodfree paper mainly sold into the European print market.
Sappi Kirkniemi Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill located in Finland, producing 300,000 tpa of bleached mechanical pulp which is used to produce approximately 750 000 tpa of a variety of coated mechanical paper grades used in the print publication industry globally.
ENDS
About Sappi
A global leader in dissolving pulp and paper-based solutions, Sappi Limited is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has over 12,000 employees; manufacturing facilities on three continents, in ten countries (ten operations in Europe, four operations in North America and five operations in South Africa) and customers in over 150 countries worldwide.
Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant and sustainable dissolving pulp, paper (speciality, packaging and graphic), paper pulp, and biomaterial products and related services and innovations. Our market-leading range of paper products includes: flexible packaging, label, release liner, containerboard, graphic papers, casting release papers and in our Southern African region newsprint, uncoated graphic and business papers. These products serve the fashion, FMCG and industrial sectors. Our dissolving pulp products are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products.
Sappi drives product innovation and the development of new uses for its renewable resource (woodfibre) as well as for the biomass and other residues from its production processes. One such area is in the field of biomaterials (cellulose composites, nanocellulose and lignins), biochemicals including hemicellulose sugars and bio-energy forest products materials which Sappi believes will play a key role in its future range of products, both as commercial products and for applications within Sappi.
We continue to grow into a profitable and cash-generative diversified business with an exciting future in woodfibre, a renewable resource.
Issued by Brunswick
on behalf of Sappi Limited
Tel +27 (0)11 502 7300
For further information
André F Oberholzer
Group Head Corporate Affairs
Sappi Limited
Tel +27 (0)11 407 8044
Mobile +27 (0)83 235 2973
Andre.Oberholzer@sappi.com
Tracy Wessels
Group Head Investor Relations and Sustainability
Sappi Limited
Tel +27 (0)11 407 8391
Mobile +27 (0)83 666 6589
Tracy.Wessels@sappi.com
Kirsty Hector
Regional Communication Manager
Sappi Europe
Tel +32 (0)2 676 9700
Mobile +32 (0)496 39 0889
Kirsty.Hector@sappi.com
