Displaying items by tag: Stora Enso

Thursday, 22 December 2011 10:00

Stora Enso signs EUR 150 million loan agreement

Stora Enso has signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a EUR 150 million loan to be used for the new container board machine investment project at Ostrołęka Mill in Poland. The loan matures in 2023.

“Our co-operation with EIB is good and we are delighted with EIB’s continuing support for our strategically important investments. The investment at Ostrołęka will strengthen our competitive position in corrugated packaging in the growing markets of Central and Eastern Europe, and is one more step in building sustainable and profitable growth for the Group. The new container board machine with a modern product and greater capacity than the machine it replaces will not only renew our product offering, it will also improve our overall cost position through efficient internal supply of light-weight containerboard made from recycled fibre,” says Mats Nordlander, Executive Vice President, Packaging Business Area.

The main items for the Ostrołęka project have been procured and construction work is progressing as planned. The EUR 285 million container board machine investment project at Ostrołęka is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, as announced on 11 January 2011.

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Wednesday, 23 November 2011 08:23

Stora Enso extends revolving credit facility

Stora Enso has signed an extension of its existing EUR 700 million committed credit facility agreement with a syndicate of 16 banks announced on 14 December 2010. The extended facility matures in January 2015 and will be used as a backup for general corporate purposes. The terms of the facility, including pricing, remain unchanged and the facility has no financial covenants.

Bookrunners and Mandated Lead Arrangers for the transaction are BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs International, Nordea and The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC.

Mandated Lead Arrangers are Banc of America Securities Limited, Barclays Capital, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank AG London Branch, DnB NOR Bank ASA, Handelsbanken, HSBC Bank plc, JP Morgan plc, Pohjola Bank plc, SEB and UBS Investment Bank.

“Stora Enso has a strong balance sheet and very good liquidity, and that enables us to continue implementing our growth strategy. Extending our current revolving credit facility further strengthens our financial flexibility,” says Stora Enso CFO Markus Rauramo.

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Stora Enso establishes Pathfinders Shadow Management Team to challenge Chief Executive Officer and Group Executive Team in rethinking Group operations

Stora Enso has selected 12 talents from within the Group as Pathfinders to challenge and support the CEO and Group Executive Team in developing Stora Enso into an innovative renewable materials Group. The Pathfinders will operate as a Group Shadow Management Team focusing on two selected challenges, namely Innovation and Global Responsibility.

“The 12 Pathfinders were selected from over 150 applicants through a process open to all Stora Enso employees. We are convinced that through this selection process, including interviews and assessment centres, we have appointed a group of talented individuals who will form a very exciting and diverse team with every opportunity for thorough rethinking,” says Lars Häggström, Head of Group Human Resources.

In creating the Pathfinder programme, Stora Enso has decided to partner with one of the world’s most renowned business schools, IMD of Lausanne in Switzerland. IMD is currently ranked as the best executive education provider in Europe and the third best in the world. The Pathfinders will be guided by Professor Thomas Malnight of IMD.

The following persons have been appointed as Pathfinders:
James Barr, 39, General Manager, Stora Enso UK
Malin Bendz, 35, Director, Packaging Business Development, Sweden
Elina Gerdt, 31, Tax Manager, Finland
Risto Kallio, 48, Technical Customer Service Manager, Imatra Mills, Finland
Piotr Kuzebski, 41, Regional Sales Director, Packaging, Poland
Fredrik Lundeborg, 33, Vice President, M&A and Corporate Finance, Sweden
Duncan Mayes, 41, Director, R&D & Innovation, Wood Products, Finland
Tuomas Mustonen, 31, Director, Customer Service Centre, Publication Paper, Germany
Juliano Pereira, 32, HR Director Latin America, Brazil
Kaisa Tarna-Mani, 39, Vice President, Control & Finance, Biorefinery, Finland
Louie Wang, 44, Managing Director, China Sales, China
Patricia Wikström, 32, Director, Digital Channels and Development, Finland

“Stora Enso is facing big challenges as the world and consumption trends are changing. Our objective is to focus on some of these challenges and find ways to turn them into exciting business opportunities. I think we have been offered a unique opportunity to learn and deepen our understanding of the challenges around us,” says Fredrik Lundeborg, one of the Pathfinders.

The Pathfinders are expected to make exciting, innovative and thought-provoking recommendations to the Group Executive Team, recommendations that when put into practice will help make Stora Enso the leading rethinker in the industry, or wherever it chooses to compete.

“We have promised at Stora Enso to rethink, challenge and renew everything we do. We see a momentum in the Group accelerating change, which is never over. And this is where I believe the Pathfinders – a very diverse group of colleagues from all regions with different amounts and types of professional experience – can make a real difference. I have asked them to be direct, constructive and brave, and to challenge everybody, including myself, the Group Executive Team and each other. Questioning old ways of doing things and finding new and different solutions to delight our customers, shareholders and employees – that is the journey the Pathfinders and the Group are on,” says Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen.

Published in European News
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Monday, 07 November 2011 08:43

Stora Enso's Nomination Board appointed

Stora Enso’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 20 April 2011 decided to appoint a Nomination Board to prepare proposals concerning

(a) the number of members of the Board of Directors,

(b) the members of the Board of Directors,

(c) the remuneration for the Chairman, Vice Chairman and members of the Board of Directors and

(d) the remuneration for the Chairman and members of the committees of the Board of Directors.

The Nomination Board shall consist of four members: the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and two other members appointed by the two largest shareholders (one each) as of 30 September 2011.

According to the register of shareholders, Stora Enso’s two largest shareholders on 30 September 2011 were Foundation Asset Management (FAM) and Solidium.

Stora Enso’s Nomination Board has been appointed. The composition of the Nomination Board is as follows: Gunnar Brock (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stora Enso), Juha Rantanen (Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stora Enso), Claes Dahlbäck (Senior Advisor of Foundation Asset Management) and Pekka Ala-Pietilä (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Solidium). Pekka Ala-Pietilä is the Chairman of the Nomination Board.

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Stora Enso’s Packaging Business Area plans to increase its cost competitiveness and respond to market demand by restructuring its core and coreboard operations in Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA, and streamlining corrugated packaging production in Finland.

“In core and coreboard markets the main customer is the board and paper industry. Decreased demand for paper mill cores in mature markets has made the market situation tighter, and in the current financial situation the outlook is uncertain. Corrugated packaging markets are very local and closely related to national economies. In Finland demand is still clearly below pre-crisis levels, and there are no signs of sustained recovery. The planned restructuring and streamlining measures, including some development investments, will enable us to better meet customer and market expectations and ensure our competitiveness by being more cost efficient and streamlining our operations,” says Mats Nordlander, EVP, Stora Enso Packaging Business Area.

The planned restructuring measures would reduce approximately 80 employees in corrugated packaging operations in Finland, and approximately 70 employees in core and coreboard operations mainly in Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom and the USA. In addition, the plans include possible temporary lay-offs at corrugated packaging operations in Finland. Stora Enso’s Packaging Business Area plans to reduce annual costs by approximately EUR 6 million, starting during the first quarter of 2012, with all planned actions to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2012. Stora Enso will record a restructuring provision and an inventory write-down of approximately EUR 4 million in the Industrial Packaging segment in the fourth quarter of 2011 results.

All decisions will be made after the local co-determination negotiations have been concluded. Stora Enso would make every effort in co-operation with local communities to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and all job openings in other Stora Enso units would be available to those affected.

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“Solid quarter, measures to fight the economic reality continue and increase”

“We finished the third quarter as planned. The business areas performed as expected, but associated companies underperformed, essentially due to currency impact.

“In July we forecast rapidly increasing economic uncertainty and the need to plan for alternative demand scenarios going forward. We described the early signs of weakening demand and sales channel inventory reductions in Fine Paper and Wood Products. Whereas we see for example in coated fine paper stabilisation after inventory corrections, it is clear that going into the fourth quarter our customers, as well as ourselves, will reduce inventories and therefore we will further step up the manufacturing curtailments which we already increased significantly in the third quarter. If temporary lay-offs are planned, they will be subject to co-determination negotiations.

“As before, in a rapidly changing business environment our priorities are clear: cash preservation, defending our margins through active capacity management, minimising the number of underutilised assets by product swaps and continued cost-efficiency actions. The good news is that we are now in a stronger position than a few years ago due to lower fixed costs. We have enhanced flexibility through outsourcing and other means of decreasing the negative earnings impact of reduced demand. This path of improvements in costs and productivity, but also flexibility is one we will continue to follow.

“Looking further ahead, our current strategic projects – the Montes del Plata pulp mill in Uruguay, the Ostrołęka containerboard machine in Poland and the cross-laminated timber investment in Austria – are proceeding according to plan. Inpac acquisition was completed in the third quarter. Our strong balance sheet and cash position gives us a solid platform to pursue our future in our selected growth areas.”

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Stora Enso plans to undertake a unique wooden construction project in Finland called Wood City in collaboration with the construction company SRV. A proposal that a site in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki be reserved for Stora Enso Oyj and SRV Yhtiöt Oyj was submitted today to the Real Estate Board of the City of Helsinki. The aim is to create a world-class project in which engineering skills can be taught in a practical way and to develop wood architecture. The extraordinary city to be built of wood includes office, hotel and commercial buildings. The first buildings are expected to be completed in 2013.

Special attention will be paid to solutions that improve energy efficiency in designing and constructing the buildings for the area. A high standard, internationally interesting and progressive plan for Wood City will be sought through an invitation-only design competition. Stora Enso is planning to supply supporting structures based on its new Urban MultiStorey™ concept for the buildings totalling 20 000 square metres of floor area in the site.

“Development of the new CLT-based Urban MultiStorey™ concept has been not only one of the most important Building Solutions actions in strengthening our strategy, but also the start of a totally new future for construction. The concept, which is especially suitable for energy-efficient construction, is a more competitive and flexible total solution for our customers than other construction solutions for multiple-storey buildings globally. In addition to rapid construction, the major advantage of the concept is cost-effective construction of impermeable, fire-resistant and long-lasting wooden buildings,” says Hannu Kasurinen, EVP, Stora Enso Wood Products.

“The Wood City project would offer us an excellent opportunity to develop our concept for the needs of office building construction too, jointly with the construction company SRV. Our solution based on massive CLT boards facilitates, for example, often popular vast glass surfaces, open, modifiable interiors and placing of piping and similar partly inside the elements,” Kasurinen continues.

The Urban MultiStorey™ concept will be offered throughout Europe. It features a variety of Stora Enso wood products. In addition to CLT boards the total solution utilises pillar beams and various external and interior cladding products, for example. To meet customers’ usage requirements, collaboration with the customer starts already in the design phase and continues all the way through to assembly.

“Wood City, the eight-storey high Bridport House in London, a shopping centre in Vienna and the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia are all real proof points of projects in which Stora Enso’s building solutions have a key role, heralding the dawning of a new era of wood construction. Thanks to new fire regulations that came into force in April, Finland now has an excellent opportunity to secure its place globally as one of the top countries for innovative and environmentally friendly multi-storey wooden construction and, above all, an opportunity to build office buildings up to eight storeys high from wood,” says Kasurinen.

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Stora Enso’s and Arauco’s Montes del Plata joint-venture pulp mill project is proceeding and the external financing for the project has been finalised. Montes del Plata has signed the loan agreements and as part of the financing arrangements, Stora Enso has signed an agreement to guarantee 50% of USD 1 354 million of loans raised by Montes del Plata. Stora Enso’s 50% share of the total guarantee will be a maximum of USD 677 million (EUR 498 million). The project is financed by USD 900 million of export credit financing with twelve years tenor, by an A loan of USD 200 million with twelve years tenor from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and by a B loan of USD 254 million with nine years tenor from commercial banks through IDB. 

“We welcome the support of Finnvera, Finnish Export Credit (FEC), Swedish Export Credit (SEK), IDB and other financing institutions for this exciting, strategically important project. We are also pleased with the long maturity of the credit facility,” says Stora Enso CFO Markus Rauramo. 

As announced on 18 January 2011, Montes del Plata will build a new state-of-the-art 1.3 million tonnes per year pulp mill at Punta Pereira, in the department of Colonia, Uruguay. The total investment is estimated to be approximately USD 1.9 billion (EUR 1.4 billion). Each of the joint-venture shareholders has a 50% stake in the mill’s equity and will be entitled to half of its output. The project will be financed through equity and loans raised by Montes del Plata. Stora Enso is consolidating its 50% share with the equity method.

The project comprises a pulp mill with Best Available Techniques, a deepwater port and a power generating unit based on renewable resources. The new mill is expected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2013.

Published in South American News
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POM Technology Oy Ab has received an order for the supply of a compact approach flow system for Stora Enso’s new testliner machine in Ostroleka Mill in Poland.  The start-up is scheduled for the first quarter of 2013.

At a wire width of 8,600 mm and a design speed of 1,800 m/min, the new Narew PM5 project will produce 455,000 metric tons of testliner per year. The new paper machine is designed for the production of lightweight testliner and recycled fluting in a basis weight range of 65-140 g/m².

The POM compact approach system delivery includes: two POMix Stock Processors for efficient stock mixing, three POMp Degassers for white water dearation, two POMlock suction leg sealing units as well as compact process solutions and engineering  for whole approach flow system. Stora Enso’s focus of this investment was on operational savings from improved drainage, cleanliness and quality  as well as on space and especially energy cost savings, which all are met by POM System applications and principles.

The new Stora Enso Ostroleka PM5 order continues Stora Enso’s orders to POM Technology Oy Ab. POM Tehnology has successfully delivered several POM Degassing solutions to Stora Enso Varkaus and Imatra Mills in Finland. POM Technology  Oy Ab will become part of Aikawa Fiber Technologies (AFT) at beginning of year 2012.

Published in European News

Stora Enso has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the 11th year running. The Group is the only European company from the forestry and paper sector listed in the DJSI for 2011−2012. Stora Enso received top industry scores for sustainable forest management, product stewardship and environmental management. The members of the DJSI for 2011−2012 were announced today.

“We are constantly improving in our Global Responsibility efforts, and being listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 11th year in a row and still improving our performance in the Index are signs that we are on the right path,” says Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen.

“We have been rethinking our responsibility approach and made new initiatives such as improving sustainability standards in our supply chain and enhancing engagement with local communities. I’m glad to see that the work we have done is also reflected in the DJSI results. The only way our company can become even more responsible than today is by rethinking − questioning old ways of working and finding new ways and solutions. The key is to listen to our stakeholders and learn from them.”

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes to track the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies. Companies are included in or deleted from the indexes based on their economic, environmental and social performance. The indexes provide investors with reliable and objective benchmarks to help them manage their sustainability portfolios.

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