Finland-based Stora Enso has closed the previously announced sale of its paper production site in Hylte, Sweden and all related assets to sawmill and planing mill company Sweden Timber.
According to the paper mill company Stora Enso, the enterprise value of the deal is around €18m and based on the last year’s data the divestment is anticipated to lower its annual sales by around €160m.
The transaction will also lower Stora Enso’s annual newsprint paper capacity by 245,000 tonnes.
In January this year, Stora Enso announced that it will divest the Hylte paper production site and all its related assets to Sweden Timber.
Additionally, the paper mill company cancelled the divestment process of the Anjala paper production site in Finland at the same time.
The deal is part of the earlier announced plan in March last year to divest four of Stora Enso’s five paper production sites. The firm will now focus on the growth potential for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.
The Finnish company said that the deal will not impact formed fibre and biocomposite operations located at the Hylte site.
Stora Enso CEO and president Annica Bresky said at the time: “Through divesting a majority of our paper assets, we are able to increase the focus on our defined strategic growth areas of renewable packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.
“When assessing potential divestment options, we look for new ownership that will provide a sustainable long-term future for the sites and the people that work there.”
The firm completed the divestment of its Nymölla paper site in Sweden to Sylvamo in January and transferred the ownership of the Maxau paper site in Germany to Schwarz Produktion in March.
Stora Enso’s paper division was closed on 1 January 2023, whilst the retained Langerbrugge in Belgium and Anjala paper production sites were integrated into packaging materials division reporting.
Last month, the paper mill company signed a joint development agreement with textile maker Kolon Industries to develop and market bio-based polyesters and their applications, with renewable binder resin formulations.