The sale of Sappi’s Maastricht Mill in the Netherlands, Stockstadt Mill in Germany and Kirkniemi Mill in Finland was announced in September 2022 and was expected to complete in Q1 2023 but was later postponed to Q2 2023
The deal for three European paper mills between Sappi and Aurelius has failed. (Credit: Roberto Sorin on Unsplash)
Sappi, a South Africa-based paper and pulp-producing company, has announced that its intended plan to sell three European paper mills to the Aurelius Group has failed.
The sale of Sappi’s Maastricht Mill in the Netherlands, Stockstadt Mill in Germany and Kirkniemi Mill in Finland was announced in September 2022.
According to the company, the planned transaction was not materialised within the agreed timeframe of the contractual agreement.
Sappi said that the parties were not able to agree to meet the conditions precedent and thus the proposed transaction lapsed.
The paper and pulp firm received offers from many parties for these mills but the board of Sappi agreed to accept the offer from Aurelius Group, which is a pan-European multi-asset manager group.
Sappi CEO Steve Binnie said: “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.”
The agreement secured approval from the European Union (EU) competition authority last December and was expected to complete in the first quarter of 2023. Later, it was postponed to the second quarter of 2023, and now it lapsed.
The deal’s enterprise value had been around €272m. Aurelius had expected the mills to deliver more than €1bn in sales.
Maastricht mill produces 260,000 tons per annum (TPA) of coated woodfree paper and paperboard for printers and packaging converters globally, whereas the Stockstadt mill manufactures 145,000TPA of pulp to produce 220,000TPA of coated and uncoated woodfree paper for the European print market.
Additionally, Kirkniemi mill produces 300,000TPA of bleached mechanical pulp to make around 750,000TPA of coated mechanical paper grades for the global print publication industry.
Sappi Europe CEO Marco Eikelenboom said: “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.”