UPM has signed an agreement to sell its Shotton newsprint mill in North Wales and all related assets to Eren Paper Ltd, a subsidiary of Modern Karton Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş., the containerboard and corrugated packaging business of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Eren Holding. The closing of the transaction is planned for late Q3 2021.
Eren’s plan is to integrate the Shotton site into its existing business units and to make further investment at the site. All 190 employees currently working at UPM Shotton will be part of the transaction
“We are pleased with this agreement. It will provide a long-term future for the employees at our Shotton paper mill and a continued use of the site infrastructure,” says Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President of UPM Communication Papers. “It will help UPM to further consolidate its newsprint production capacity while leveraging the value of the site and its assets. This sale will also support Eren in expanding its business in the UK market”.
The transaction will reduce UPM’s annual newsprint capacity by 250,000t and fixed costs by €30m upon closing of the sale. The fixed costs reduction is in addition to the earlier communicated fixed costs savings impact of €130m from actions implemented during H2 2020 and 2021.
