M-Real says to incorporate forest assets
Copyright 2001 Reuters
September 25, 2001
HELSINKI - Europe's leading fine-paper maker M-real said yesterday it would incorporate its forest assets, worth about one one billion markka ($153.4 million), in a move to enhance its woodlands management.
The new company, which will be an M-real subsidiary, would be founded before year-end and take over about 112,500 hectares (277,000 acres) of M-real's forests.
M-real said in a statement the firm would seek to later increase its Finnish woodland assets, with the first expansion coming via the forests owned by Metsaliitto Group, a cooperatives-run forestry firm and major M-real owner.
"We see this as a good and safe long-term investment target and we will later also offer the opportunity for others with forest assets (to take part)," Veli-Matti Mynttinen, M-real's chief financial officer, told Reuters.
Mynttinen said the purpose of the new company was to enhance forest management. As the group's forest assets increased, cost management could become more efficient and specialised.
He declined to say whether other local players like the world's second-largest paper and board producer Stora Enso and rival UPM-Kymmene , which have indicated they want to sell their forests, would be targetted.
Mynttinen added it was too early to say whether the incorporation was the first step towards M-real eventually selling off its forest lands.
UPM-Kymmene said at the end of August it was ready to sell its almost 800,000 hectares of forestland in Finland if a suitable buyer were found. Earlier in August Stora Enso was reported to have been interested in selling its forests.