Kartogroup revises schedule

Kartogroup has pushed back its project to install a new 25,000 tonne/yr tissue PM at the Bousbecque mill in France. The Italian company originally aimed to bring the Over Meccanica unit on stream by late 2001. But installation will now begin in July, with startup set to follow in September 2002. The machine is expected to reach full capacity in early 2003. Kartogroup blamed the delay on its difficulties obtaining planning permission for the machine house and engineering delays during construction.

Gascogne bags stake in sack kraft unit

Groupe Gascogne has acquired a 60% share of Aigis, the sack kraft converting subsidiary of Greek construction firm, AGET Heracles. The French group paid Euro 5.13 million ($4.4 million) for the stake, and aims to buy the remaining 40% from an undisclosed German family. Gascogne also plans to boost Aigis' productivity by bringing in technical experts from its existing European operations.

Alquería picks supplier

Papelera Alquería has chosen Voith Paper to rebuild PM 3 at its mill in Alquería de Aznar, near Alicante, on Spain's southeast coast. The waste-based fluting machine is booked in for an upgrade in September this year.

The Spanish company aims to boost both the quality and quantity of PM 3's output following the modernization. The 3.24 m wide unit will be kitted out with a new size press as part of the project. Voith will provide a pulper decontamination system, a hole screening stage and rejects handling equipment. VIB will install new moisture control equipment on the machine.

Miquel y Costas makes special purchase

Spanish specialty papermaker, Miquel y Costas & Miquel, has splashed out Euro 3.6 million ($3.1 million) on Papelera del Besós' 50% stake in the two companies' joint venture, MB Papeles Especiales. The move takes Miquel y Costas' stake in the company to 100%.

The Spanish producers formed the joint venture in 1991 when Papelera del Besós bought a 50% share in two PMs located at Miquel y Costas' mill in Barcelona, which churn out a total of 14,000 tonnes/yr of specialty grades in low grammage weights. Miquel y Costas produces uncoated ultra lightweight printing papers and cigarette papers.

Munksjö snubs offer

Munksjö's board of directors has recommended that shareholders and holders of convertible loan notes do not accept Jefferson Smurfit's unsolicited offer for Munksjö's stock. Jefferson Smurfit offered SEK 77/share ($7/share) in cash and 100% of the convertible loan notes' nominal value plus accrued interest in a bid to snap up the remaining two thirds of Munksjö. The group already holds a 33% slice of the Swedish producer.

Jefferson Smurfit declined to comment on Munksjö's announcement or on what its next move may be, while the bid process was still in motion. The offer opened on February 19 and was set to run until March 12.

Munksjö said it does not believe the offer fully reflects the value of the company's business and future potential.

The board pointed out that the Swedish firm's fourth quarter 2001 results were not reflected in the offer as it was launched just after Munksjö's annual results were released while trading in the company's stock was suspended. The fourth quarter earnings were significantly higher than analysts had expected, with net profit coming in at SEK 120 million.

Holmen pushes back startup

Holmen plans to boost the speed of the newsprint PM 53 at its Braviken mill in Sweden following an optimization scheme scheduled for November. The company has awarded the Euro 2.1 million ($1.8 million) upgrade contract to Voith Paper. The move is expected to boost the machine's newsprint output from 950 tonnes/day to 982 tonnes/day.

The equipment supplier originally expected to complete the rebuild in the first half of this year, but the upgrade will now take place during Braviken's annual shutdown in November. Holmen pushed back the project as it needs PM 53 to take up the slack while the company replaces the 220,000 tonne/yr newsprint PM 11 at its Hallsta plant with a new 330,000 tonne/yr machine-finished magazine paper PM.

Biocel raises output

Biocel is pressing on with a debottlenecking project that will boost its output over the next two years. The Czech company produced 240,000 tonnes of pulp last year and expects the debottlenecking program to increase output to 260,000 tonnes by the end of this year and to 280,000 tonnes in 2003.

Total spending on investments is expected to reach CZK 120 million ($3 million) this year, compared to CZK 156 million in 2000. The company is currently drawing up plans to overhaul its wastewater treatment plant, in particular the clarifying section, converting it from a two-stage process to a single stage.

Horizon denies rumor

Horizon Pulp and Paper has refuted a media report that the Tolaram group has sold off its 82.5% stake in the Estonian producer.

The Singapore-based group is still in talks with potential buyers and expected a deal to be completed before the end of March. The South African financial group, ABSA, is one of the parties interested in acquiring the stake, but various options were still being considered.

Tolaram is looking to sell off its slice of Horizon as part of a restructuring program aimed at consolidating its position in the textiles industry. The 62,000 tonne/yr integrated sack kraft plant is Tolaram's sole paper production facility.

Mondi invests in Russia

Mondi Europe has agreed to buy a 68.5% stake in Russia's Syktyvkar Forest Enterprise for $252 million. The move takes its share in the Russian mill to 87.9%. The majority stake will be part of Mondi Europe's subsidiary, Neusiedler. The pulp and paper plant is located near Syktyvkar, the capital city of the Komi region in northeast Russia.

Neusiedler produces 1.1 million tonnes/yr of uncoated woodfree grades which is mainly cut-size paper. The acquisition will give Neusiedler a 15% slice of the European market and allows Syktyvkar to fulfil its ambition to become one of the region's top three uncoated woodfree producers.

Although Syktyvkar's 400,000 tonne/yr uncoated woodfree production makes up the lion's share of its total output of 700,000 tonnes/yr, the Russian firm also manufactures 150,000 tonnes/yr of containerboard and 150,000 tonnes/yr of newsprint.

Mondi Europe was keen to gain control of Syktyvkar as the Russian company has "good quality assets and a very low cost operating base". The move also allows Neusiedler to build on its presence in eastern Europe. The uncoated woodfree producer bought the Szolnok mill in Hungary in 1995 and then grabbed a 50% stake in Slovakia's Severoslovenské Celulózky a Papierne in mid-2000.

Segezha extends range

Segezha has launched production of extensible sack kraft paper on the 79,000 tonne/yr PM 10 at its mill in Karelia, Russia. The move marks the completion of the machine's modernization at the plant on the Russian-Finnish border, which kicked off on October 22, 2001. Voith Paper supplied the extensible paper unit.

Belisce bids for box company

The Croatian containerboard producer, Belisce, has offered to buy 100% of Slovenia's Valkarton for an undisclosed sum. The Croatian company's directors expect to have the deal sewn up this month.

Valkarton produces 91 million m2/yr of corrugated boxes, giving it a 50% share of the Slovenian market. The company buys 25% of its raw materials from Belisce, but if the deal goes through the figure will shoot up to 90%.

Belisce will finance the acquisition through internal funds and a Euro 17 million ($15 million) corporate bond underwritten by Swiss-owned Privredna Banka Zagreb, one of the firm's major shareholders.

Brigl & Bergmeister builds up stake

Brigl & Bergmeister of Austria has boosted its share in Slovenia's Papirnice Vevce from 51% to 80%. The company bought the stake from several Slovenian firms, including Ljubljanska Banka, and intends to acquire the remaining stock as soon as it becomes available.

Papirnica Vevce operates two machines at its sole site in Laibach. PM 4 produces 20,000 tonnes/yr of coated woodfree paper for labels and flexible packaging. The plant's 70,000 tonne/yr PM 5 churns out uncoated woodfree paper for graphic end-uses.

Mondi mulls expansion

Mondi Kraft may expand capacity at its Richards Bay pulp and kraftliner mill in South Africa from 600,000 tonnes/yr to 700,000 tonnes/yr. Jaakko Pöyry has finished a pre-feasibility study on the scheme and is now preparing to conduct further research between April and August. A more detailed engineering study will follow if the project gets the green light from Mondi's board. The company expects to reach a final decision on the scheme in November.

BC seals Skeena deal

The British Columbia (BC) supreme court has approved a deal under which Northwest BC Timber and Pulp will snap up fellow Canadian firm, Skeena Cellulose.

The BC cabinet and treasury board has given the C$8 million ($5 million) acquisition the thumbs-up as well. The transaction is expected to close on April 26 if creditors also sanction the takeover.

The deal follows speculation that bankruptcy was on the cards for Skeena after earlier potential deals with Northwest BC Timber and Pulp and Switzerland's Mercer International fell through.

Skeena has four sawmills in BC, as well as a 478,000 tonne/yr northern bleached softwood kraft market pulp mill.

Sharma pushes back startup

The Sharma Group has experienced delays with its project to build a greenfield tissue plant in Trinidad and Tobago, Unicell Paper Mills Caribbean. The group had some difficulties obtaining planning permission for the mill buildings and securing funds for the scheme. But these issues have now been resolved and work on the facility's foundations has begun.

Recard is to supply a 90 tonne/day crescent former tissue PM to the plant, which will be located near Port of Spain.

The machine is penciled in to come online in mid-2003.

SCA boosts tissue output with Cartoinvest buy

SCA has ended months of speculation with the announcement that the company is to acquire Cartoinvest of Italy. The Swedish giant will fork out Euro 301 million ($263 million) to snap up the firm from the Carrara family. On top of that, SCA will shoulder some Euro 171 million in debt as a result of the deal.

The acquisition is subject to approval from the European Commission (EC). SCA hopes to get the green light from the authorities and wrap up the deal this month. The takeover does not include Cartoinvest's board operations, which will remain with the Carrara family.

The Italian firm will boost the Swedish outfit's capacity from 1.15 million tonnes/yr to 1.55 million tonnes/yr of tissue, as well as raising its tissue converting capacity from 1.1 million tonnes/yr to around 1.45 million tonnes/yr.

According to SCA, Cartoinvest is Europe's fourth largest consumer tissue producer. The acquisition will take the company's share of the European private label market from 24% to around 32%. On top of that, SCA's portion of the region's total consumer tissue sector will climb from 20% to some 25%.

SCALA to sell assets

The Italian tissue producer, SCALA, is looking to sell off its assets after going into receivership in May last year. Companies were to submit expressions of interest to the commissioner, Mario Lupo, by March 22.

The eligible interested parties will be notified of their admission to the second phase of the sale by April 19.

They will then be invited to submit binding purchase offers for one or more of the assets by May 24. The successful bidders will be selected by June 21.

Imbalpaper tests new PM

Imbalpaper has launched trial runs on a new tissue machine from Recard at its Lucca plant in Italy. The machine is currently running at 1,000 m/min with just one shift per day. Full production was set to follow in mid-March.

The 125 tonne/day crescent former unit has a design speed of 2,200 m/min. The PM is expected to operate at 1,800 m/min producing 100 tonnes/day of 14 g/m2 tissue.

New Carma unit hits delay

Cartiera Carma has pushed back the startup of a new tissue PM at its plant in Pistoia, Italy, following a delay with civil works. Delivery of the Recard crescent former machine was originally scheduled for May, but PM 2 is now due to arrive at the site at the end of July with startup slated for the end of the year.

The 50 tonne/day machine will have a trim width of 2.75 m and a maximum working speed of 1,000 m/min. PM 2 will replace the mill's 30 tonne/day fourdrinier PM 1 which is to be sold off.

Fedrigoni buys Fabriano

The Italian antitrust authority has given the go-ahead for the Fedrigoni group to buy Cartiere Miliani Fabriano. Fedrigoni signed a provisional purchase agreement on December 21, 2001, and was due to close the deal in mid-March.

The Italian group will snap up 99.9% of Miliani Fabriano from the state-owned mint and printing company, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, for Euro 40 million ($35 million). The remaining 0.1% will be retained by private shareholders.

Merchants question supply

UK paper merchants are seeking answers to allegations made against Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL) by Friends of the Earth (FOE).

The non-governmental environmental organization has accused the companies of buying paper from APRIL, which is sourced from clearcut Indonesian rainforest. The claims were made in a report entitled, "Paper Tiger, Hidden Dragons 2: APRIL FOOLS." Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) faced similar allegations in a FOE report published last year.

The report reveals that at least nine paper merchants in the UK are buying PaperOne products from APRIL's marketing subsidiary, APRIL Fine Paper. The companies named are David John Papers, Davies Harvey & Murrel, GF Smith, HV Sier, Ovenden Papers, Rosefox, South Wales Paper Company, Fulton Paper and the Frederick Johnson Paper Group.

FOE's report claims APRIL has already cleared at least 220,000 ha of Indonesian rainforest and will remove another 147,000 ha over the next six years. Unless logging practices change radically, there will be no commercially viable lowland forest left in Sumatra by 2005, according to a World Bank study.

Sappi closes door on carbonless paper market

Sappi has exited the carbonless paper market following the closure of its 25,000 tonne/yr Transcript plant in the UK. The mill's paper machine was halted in January and the coater was shut down in February. A skeleton staff will remain at the site until July to sell off the plant's stock. Sappi is in talks with several potential buyers for the Transcript brand and the mill's equipment.

LPC snaps up Kilbagie plant

Leicester Paper (LPC) has bought Inveresk's Kilbagie mill in Alloa, Scotland, for £2.2 million ($1.6 million). The sale does not include the site's two PMs, which have a combined capacity of 27,000 tonnes/yr of uncoated woodfree paper. The move is part of Inveresk's restructuring plan that was unveiled in September last year.

LPC is mainly interested in the Kilbagie site's 85-90 tonne/day deinking plant. A spokesman said LPC has not yet decided whether all of the unit's output will go toward feeding the two tissue PMs at its mill in Leicester or if some of the deinked pulp will be sold on the market.

Kahrizak reconsiders PM plan

Kahrizak Paper may revive its plan to build a new 300 tonne/day containerboard mill in Iran. The company completed a feasibility study on the project last year. But the scheme was postponed after a crash in the Turkish lira inundated Iran with cut-price testliner.

The $12-14 million scheme will be financed through internal funds and loans. The budget allows for a second-hand PM from Europe, as well as land, buildings and stock preparation equipment. The PM will produce brown and white top testliner. The unit will have a design speed of 300 m/min and a wire width of 4-4.4 m. Kahrizak expects the machine to start up 18 months after the firm's management gives the project the green light.

Plans blossom for new plant

The Turkmenistan government has firmed up plans for the country's first pulp and paper plant. The mill will produce 30,000 tonnes/yr of uncoated woodfree paper and 30,000 tonnes/yr of straw and cotton linter pulp. The $100 million facility will have one integrated pulp line and one paper machine. Turkey's Gap Insaat Ve Dis Ticaret has signed a turnkey contract with the government to build the plant on a greenfield site in Yasilik, eastern Turkmenistan. The facility will use local raw materials.

Gap Insaat and Jaakko Pöyry of Finland are carrying out a feasibility study on the project and negotiating with potential suppliers. The Turkish company expects the study to be completed next month. Startup is slated for late 2003 or early 2004.

Ripasa to pump up pulp

Ripasa has chosen Kvaerner to supply a new compact cooking plant for its Limeira mill in Sao Paulo state. The $20 million order is part of the Brazilian firm's $250 million project to upgrade the site's two PMs and coater, as well as raise its pulp capacity.

Ripasa signed up Kvaerner to overhaul the mill's recausticizing plant and install a new 750 tonne/day fiber line at Limeira in October last year. Kvaerner expects to commission the modernized recausticizing unit in May and the new pulp line is due to start up in January 2003.

Government ends crisis

The Brazilian government was due to end its energy-rationing program on March 1. The news will bring cheer to Brazil's pulp and paper sector, which has struggled to slash electricity consumption since the rationalization plan came into force in June 2001.

Under the program, Brazilian papermakers were expected to reduce their electricity consumption by 25%, while the authorities implemented a 20% cut on energy use for pulp producers. The Brazilian government imposed the power cuts when a drought left reservoirs dry in the southeast and northeast of the country. But a spokesman for the Brazilian pulp and paper association, BRACELPA, reported that reservoirs in the southeast are already over half full, bringing an end to the energy crisis.

MD waits for PM

The Brazilian specialty papermaker, MD Papéis, expects to begin erecting a new 32,500 tonne/yr decor paper machine at its Caieiras mill in April or May.

The machine will replace the 10,000 tonne/yr PM 3 at the plant in Sao Paulo state and is due to start up in June. The new PM 3 will produce decor paper for plastic laminates in a basis weight range of 60-150 g/m2. Voith Paper will also supply the unit's stock preparation system under the $15 million order.

Brazil resolves dispute

The Brazilian government has altered the legislation governing the use of duty-free paper to create a level playing field for domestically-produced paper and imports. The country's legislation rules that paper used for education and communication purposes, such as magazines, newspapers and books, carries a zero tax rating.

Until this year, printers and converters have had to apply for a permit from the customs office to import paper for use under the duty-free scheme. But publishers that used domestically-manufactured paper to produce magazines, newspapers or books did not have to obtain a permit.

Arauco names suppliers for Valdivia project

Arauco has chosen Metso Paper to supply a complete fiber line and pulp drying system for its $1,200 million greenfield pulp mill in Valdivia, Chile. The scope of the supply contract encompasses all aspects of the production process from cooking through to pulp baling.

Kvaerner will provide a recovery boiler, a power boiler, an air pollution control system and a chemical plant under its Euro 50 million ($44 million) contract.

Manpa denies buyer search Venezuelan producer, Manufacturas de Papel

(MANPA), is not on the look out for another buyer following the breakdown of negotiations with Kimberly-Clark (K-C). A spokesperson pointed out that the company was not up for sale when MANPA was approached by the US-based tissue giant. Juan Ernesto de Bedout, president of K-C's Latin American operations said in a statement that the decision to halt talks with MANPA did not reflect its evaluation of the company.