Metsä Group divests the Metsä Wood Merk GmbH business to the Ed. Züblin AG Group

Metsä Group Press Release 11 March 2013


Metsä Group's parent company, Metsäliitto Cooperative has today (11 March 2013) agreed that it will divest the shares of Metsä Wood Merk GmbH to the German-based Ed. Züblin AG Group, which is part of the Strabag Group. The parties also agreed on long-term cooperation to provide products to each other's solution ranges. The transaction will not cause any significant capital gain or loss.

”The arrangement supports the focus of Metsä Wood and its local subsidiary Metsä Wood Deutschland GmbH on providing wood construction system and product component solutions in the Central European market. Metsä Wood Merk GmbH's strengths are based on project operations in wood construction," says Esa Kaikkonen, Executive Vice President, Metsä Wood.

Metsä Wood Merk GmbH is a subsidiary of Metsä Wood Deustchland GmbH. In 2012, Metsä Wood Merk's sales were  EUR 21 million, and it has some 100 employees. A Strabag Group company, Ed. Zublin AG is a leading construction company in Germany, and its sales in 2011 totalled  EUR 2.7 billion. The finalisation of the transaction is subject to approval by German competition authorities. The transaction is estimated to take place in second quarter of 2013.


For further information, please contact:
Esa Kaikkonen, Executive Vice President, Metsä Wood, tel. Tel. +358 10 469 4749
Atte Ailio, Senior Vice President, Finance and Strategy, Metsä Wood, tel. +358 10 465 4381


www.metsagroup.com

Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products’ main raw material is renewable and sustainably grown Nordic wood. Metsä Group focuses on tissue and cooking papers, consumer packaging paperboards, pulp, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. Its high-quality products combine renewable raw materials, customer-orientation, sustainable development and innovation. Metsä Group’s sales totalled EUR 5.0 billion in 2012, and it employs approximately 11,500 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 125,000 Finnish forest owners.

www.metsawood.com

Metsä Wood offers competitive and eco-efficient wood-based solutions for industrial construction customers, other industrial customers and the home and lifestyle sectors. We manufacture products from Nordic wood, a sustainable raw material of premium quality. Our sales were EUR 904 million in 2012, and we employ about 2,700 people. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.