The deal is part of a previously announced proposal to sell four of Stora Enso's five paper manufacturing facilities

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Nymölla paper production site in Sweden. (Credit: PRNewswire/ Stora Enso Oyj)

Finnish pulp and paper company Stora Enso has signed an agreement with US-based Sylvamo to divest its Nymölla paper production site in Sweden, and all related assets.

The €150m transaction is expected to close at the beginning of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals.

According to Stora Enso, the deal is a part of the already disclosed plan to sell four of its five paper manufacturing facilities.

The firm’s focus is on the long-term development potential for its renewable goods in packaging, building solutions, and biomaterials advances under its business plan.

Stora Enso paper division head and CFO Seppo Parvi said: “Following our recent agreement to divest the Maxau site, I am pleased that we found a good, experienced owner in Sylvamo for our Nymölla site.

“The process to divest the remaining paper assets continues.”

Uncoated paper producer Sylvamo aims to incorporate the Nymölla facility into its global paper business and all the 520 workers at the mill will be included in the deal.

Stora Enso said the sustainable textile fibre firm TreeToTextile, which is not a part of the deal, will continue its operations at the site.

The plant has a capacity of 485,000 metric tonnes of wood-free uncoated office papers with Multicopy as the top paper brand.

The sale is anticipated to lower Stora Enso’s yearly revenues by about €290m based on the 2021 projections.

Stora Enso will record a one-time disposal loss of about €20m in its IFRS operating profit at closing as an item impacting comparability, subject to adjustments for the closure date.

On 13 September, Stora Enso announced that it had sold its Maxau paper facility to Schwarz Produktion.

There is currently no set deadline for the completion of the divestiture process for the Hylte and Anjala paper plants, said the company.

Stora Enso stated that the sale will not have an immediate effect on its paper operations that continue to serve their respective customers.