IP Sells off Robertsau Mill

International Paper (IP) has sold its Robertsau paper mill in France to a management group, Lana Manufacture de Papier. The sell-off is part of IP's restructuring program to focus on core businesses, such as office and printing paper.

The plant produces 20,000 tonnes/yr of uncoated woodfree paper on three machines. Lana Manufacture de Papier has no plans to raise capacity. IP has four remaining paper mills in France.

M&F gobbles up Voiron

Matussière & Forest (M&F) has acquired the remaining 40% of Papeterie de Voiron from Arjo Wiggins Appleton (AWA). The French group forked out Euro 4 million ($3.5 million) for the stake.

The move gives the M&F group 100% of Papeterie de Voiron through its subsidiary, Papeteries Matussière & Forest. M&F said that it will take on Euro 8.5 million worth of subordinated debt organized by AWA at the end of 2003. M&F acquired a 60% slice of Papeterie de Voiron from AWA in early 2000 and the firm had been run as a joint venture.

Adolf Jass goes greenfield

The containerboard sector is set to receive another capacity injection with the news that Adolf Jass plans to build a greenfield mill in Germany.

The privately-owned firm aims to build a 350,000-400,000 tonne/yr wastebased corrugating materials plant in Rudolstadt-Schwarza, Thüringen. The facility will have one machine with a trim width of 7.5 m and an operating speed of 1,500 m/min. Output will comprise testliner and wellenstoff in a basis weight range of 80-125 g/m².

Adolf Jass specializes in producing testliner and wellenstoff. The company has one mill located in Fulda, Hessen, which houses two 5 m wide machines. One unit has a testliner capacity of 230,000 tonnes/yr and the other has a wellenstoff capacity of 220,000 tonnes/yr.

Rieger mulls new PM

Papierfabrik Rieger may invest in a second testliner PM for its 120,000 tonne/yr Trostberg board mill in Germany. But it will be some time before the company decides whether to go ahead with the project. The W Hamburger subsidiary is also investing Euro 15 million ($13 million) in an upgrade of the plant's PM 2. The unit produces coated and uncoated white top testliner in a basis weight range of 125- 230g/m². The rebuild will increase the machine's capacity from 90,000 tonnes/yr to 101,000 tonnes/yr. The upgrade will take place between October 22 and November 9. The mill's other machine, PM 1, produces 30,000 tonnes/yr of board in a basis weight range of 350-750 g/m². Papierfabrik Rieger may close the unit if plans to invest in a second testliner PM are approved.

M-M boosts cigarette packaging

Mayr-Melnhof Karton (M-M) has snapped up the privately-owned Graphia Group from several families for an undisclosed sum. The move is part of M-M's strategy to expand its share of the cigarette packaging market.

Graphia has three facilities in Germany, Graphia and Innovaprint in Bielefeld and Busche in Mönchengladbach, as well as one plant in Cherkasy, Ukraine. The plants convert, print and glue some 50,000 tonnes/yr of board. The bulk of the units' output is cigarette packaging for clients such as Reemtsma, Philip Morris and BAT. But the group also manufactures a small amount of confectionery packaging.

Cadidavid revamps PM

Cartiera di Cadidavid has signed up Metso Paper to rebuild PM 2 at its plant near Verona in Italy. The new equipment will be installed in December and startup is scheduled for January 2003.

The four-week upgrade will increase PM 2's operating speed from 715 m/min to 1,000 m/min and raise the unit's capacity from 320 tonnes/day to 450 tonnes/day of testliner 3 and 4.

Nordic Paper swings the axe at Geithus

Nordic Paper has shut down a 5,500 tonne/yr greaseproof paper and release liner PM at its Union Geithus mill in Norway. The unit was the company's smallest machine. Nordic Paper will raise the speed of its other PMs to make up for the shortfall.

The closure leaves just one 10,000 tonne/yr greaseproof and high density paper machine at Union Geithus. The firm's Säffle plant in Sweden and the Greåker facility in Norway have a combined capacity of 45,000 tonnes/yr of the same grades. Nordic Paper is keen to boost Säffle's sulfite pulp capacity from 35,000 tonnes/yr to 50,000 tonnes/yr to feed its PMs. The company received approval from the local authorities to go ahead with the scheme in January and Nordic Paper may invest in new equipment next year to help reach its production target.

Government delays Portucel sell-off

The Portuguese government has made a U-turn on its plans to privatize Portucel before the end of June and suspended the sale. The move follows an earlier ruling from Portugal's stock market regulator, Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM), that any investor holding more than 33% of Portucel's stock after the first phase of the sell-off must offer to buy up the remaining shares.

The regulation created a conflict with the two-step privatization model drawn up by the finance ministry, although the CMVM pointed out the government reserves the right to amend the rules. The finance ministry planned to offer a 25% slice of its 56% stake under the first stage of the sale. A further 15% share would be offered within three years of the first phase.

The CMVM's decision was not the only reason the government backtracked on its pledge to complete the first phase before June. The country's general election on March 17 created uncertainty, according to the finance ministry. The election resulted in a change of mandate.

Spanish specialty sold

Ahlstrom has added a Spanish mill to its list of assets with the acquisition of Papelera del Besós. The specialty paper producer did not reveal the price tag of the plant in Capellades, near Barcelona. The Capellades unit houses two filtration paper machines with a total capacity of 6,000 tonnes/yr and two converting units. The mill is Ahlstrom's first manufacturing unit in Spain although the company has two sales offices in the country.

UK to crack down on paper cartels

The British Printing Industries Feder- ation (BPIF) and the UK's Office of Fair Trading have launched an investigation into paper price cartels. The enquiry follows announcements from several merchants of similar price rises for coated and uncoated woodfree paper in the UK within days of each other.

The BPIF has encouraged members to let the organization know if they have any information. Several merchants, including Howard Smith, Robert Horne and Antalis, announced an increase in paper prices despite soft demand and weak pulp prices, causing concern among printers.

Poland sells state mill

The Polish privatization agency has sold off 80% of the debt-ridden Fabryka Papieru w Myszkow. A private buyer Eugeniusz Szpera, who owns the sawmill that supplies Myszkow, scooped up the stake for Zloty 1.6 million ($0.4 million).

Under the deal, he is obliged to invest in the plant's equipment and reduce the company's debt of Zloty 60 million over the next five years. Szpera has also agreed to retain all of the company's employees until March 2004. The remaining Myszkow stock will be divided between the firm's workers (15%) and the Polish government (5%).

Metsä Tissue eyes up Poland

Metsä Tissue plans to boost its stake in Poland's Zaklady Papiernicze w Krapkowicach (ZPK) from 25% to 50.5%. The Finnish firm has signed a letter of intent to buy 25.5% of ZPK for Euro 1.3 million ($1.1 million). The deal is subject to due diligence and approval from the Polish competition authorities.

Metsä Tissue aims to become the market leader in the Polish tissue sector. The company has a 10% share of the market, which will rise to 20% following the transaction. ZPK's plant in Krapkowice produces 25,000 tonnes/yr of tissue paper on two machines. Metsä Tissue also owns a 20,000 tonne/yr tissue paper mill near Warsaw.

Obeikan signs up board mill suplliers

Obeikan Industrial Investment Group has brought a Korean consortium comprising Hansol EME and Daewoo International on board for its greenfield board mill project in Saudi Arabia.

The $100 million Riyadh plant will have a 150,000 tonne/yr capacity of one or two side coated duplex board produced from recovered paper collected within Saudi Arabia. Construction of the facility's buildings is set to begin in October, with the first equipment scheduled to arrive at the site in 14 months' time. The plant is slated to come on stream in the first half of 2004.

Sappi snaps up Potlach unit

Sappi has agreed to buy Potlatch's coated woodfree paper business and its Cloquet pulp and paper mill in Minnesota for $480 million. Potlatch will also close its 140,000 ton/yr coated fine paper mill in Brainerd, Minn, as part of the transaction.

The Cloquet site's two machines have a total capacity of 230,000 tons/yr of coated woodfree paper. Potlatch commissioned its 425,000 ton/yr bleached kraft pulp line at the mill in 2000, making it the newest pulp mill in the US, according to Sappi. The South African company said that the acquisition represents an important strategic move for Sappi as American printers have begun to favor European style double and triple coated sheets. Sappi aims to convert the coater at the Cloquet site to launch production of these paper qualities in the short term in the US.

NDPI has big plans

Beijing Nine Dragons Paper Industries (NDPI) has stunned the industry with plans to build a 3 million tonne/yr greenfield containerboard facility in China.

The company, a subsidiary of the recovered paper supplier, America Chung Nam, has also revealed that it will buy a fourth board PM for its existing plant in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

NDPI will build the new mill in Taicang city, Jiangsu province. The firm expects construction of the plant to begin in the fourth quarter, with startup slated for the first quarter of 2004. The new facility will initially operate one kraftliner machine, PM 5, with a reported capacity of 500,000 tonnes/yr. But the company has stated that the plant's capacity will rise to 3 million tonnes/yr of containerboard over the next few years. The investment cost has not been disclosed.

NDPI will also buy a new 400,000 tonne/yr waste-based fluting unit, PM 4, for its Dongguan mill. The company expects construction to begin in the second quarter, with startup scheduled for 2003. The latest addition to NDPI's Dongguan plant, the 400,000 tonne/yr containerboard PM 3, will come on stream in the second half of this year. The new units will boost the mill's total capacity to 1.45 million tonnes/yr of containerboard.