Sappi has announced 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 has not materialised within the agreed timeframe of the contractual agreement and therefore the agreement has lapsed.
Maastricht Mill produces 260,000 tons per annum (tpa) of coated woodfree paper and paperboard, mainly sold to printers and packaging converters globally. Stockstadt Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill, producing 145,000tpa of pulp which is used to produce 220,000tpa of coated and uncoated woodfree paper mainly sold into the European print market. Kirkniemi Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill, producing 300,000tpa of bleached mechanical pulp which is used to produce approximately 750,000tpa of a variety of coated mechanical paper grades used in the print publication industry globally.
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 UK, 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.’
