Metsä Group intends to divest Metsä Wood’s timber upgrading operations in France to mutares AG
Metsä Group Press Release 25 June 2015
Metsä Group's parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative has reached an understanding with mutares on the divestment of the entire share capital of Metsä Wood France SAS. mutares submitted an irrevocable offer to Metsäliitto Cooperative and the contemplated transaction will now be subject to the information and consultation process of employee representatives of Metsä Wood France.
With the contemplated transaction Metsä Wood would discontinue the upgrading and distribution operations in France and the employees of Honfleur and Boulleville units, a total of 115 employees, would automatically transfer to the buyer. Metsä Wood’s sales operation of sawn timber, plywood and Kerto LVL products would continue in France. As a part of the contemplated transaction, the parties will agree on commercial cooperation in the supply of sawn timber for the upgrading operations.
Contemplated transaction will support Metsä Wood’s industrial efficiency strategy enabling Metsä Wood to focus on its core businesses – industrial scale production and sales of Nordic sawn timber, plywood and Kerto LVL as well as the timber upgrading and distribution operations in the UK.
The contemplated transaction is estimated to have a negative non-recurring impact of approximately EUR 20 million on Metsä Group’s Q2/2015 operating result. The contemplated transaction is estimated to be completed at the end of October 2015 at the latest.
METSÄ GROUP
Group Communications
For further information, please contact:
Henrik Söderström, SVP, Timber and Upgrades, Metsä Wood, tel. +358 40 577 3421
Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products’ main raw material is wood from northern, sustainably managed forests. Metsä Group focuses on tissue and cooking papers, fresh forest fibre 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 billion in 2014, and it employs approximately 10,500 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 122,000 Finnish forest owners.
www.metsawood.com
Metsä Wood provides competitive and environmentally friendly wood products for construction, industrial customers and distributor partners. We manufacture products from northern wood, a sustainable raw material of premium quality. Our sales in 2014 were EUR 0.9 billion, and we employ about 2,300 people. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.