Sylvamo acquires Stora Enso’s Nymölla, Sweden, paper mill

Memphis, Tennessee-based paper company Sylvamo, which operates mills in Europe, Latin America and North America, has closed an agreement to acquire Helsinki-based Stora Enso’s freesheet paper mill in Nymölla, Sweden, for 150 million euros ($159.8 million). The mill, the brands it produces and the team members who operate and support the facility are officially part of Sylvamo, the company says.

“The Nymölla mill strengthens our uncoated freesheet product mix and enables us to serve customers across Europe and around the world more effectively,” Sylvamo Chairman and CEO Jean-Michel Ribiéras says. “We’d like to welcome our new team members to the world’s paper company.”

As operated by Stora Enso, the Nymölla mill has been using wood-based raw materials consisting of “roundwood (mostly spruce, pine and beech) and sawmill chips,” according to an environmental statement posted by Stora Enso to its website in 2021.

Sylvamo says the integrated mill has two pulp lines and the capacity to produce around 500,000 short tons of uncoated freesheet on two paper machines. The mill produces several brands, including Multicopy, and paper used for office printing, business forms, digital printing, offset for printing books and more.

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Sylvamo says the Nymölla mill has an excellent environmental footprint, which complements the company’s push to produce paper in the most responsible and sustainable ways possible. The company says the mill generates 85 percent of its energy needs from carbon-neutral, renewable biomass residuals.

“I’d like to welcome Sylvamo to Skåne Iän as the mill becomes a part of the world’s paper company,” Nymölla mill manager Michael Lindemann says. “We look forward to a long-lasting and prosperous relationship for years to come.”

Stora Enso says, based on 2021 figures, the divestment is expected to reduce the company’s annual sales by approximately 290 million euros ($309.1 million). Subject to closing date adjustments, the company says it will book a one-time disposal loss of around 25 million euros ($26.6 million), including currency translation adjustments, in its IFRS operating profit in the first quarter of this year, as an item affecting comparability.

The transaction is part of a previously announced plan to divest four of Stora Enso’s five paper production sites. The company says that in line with its strategy, its focus is on long-term growth potential for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.

Its divestment process continues for the remaining paper sites in Hyltebruk, Sweden, and Anjala, Finland, with no committed timeline for conclusion. Stora Enso says that the process has no immediate effect on its paper operations, which continue to serve their respective customers.