Walki Group, the leading producer of protective packaging materials and technical laminates, announces today that it will expand its production network in Europe by opening a new state of the art manufacturing plant in Wroclaw, Poland. The new plant, which is to commence its production during the third quarter of 2013, will be Walki’s third production site in Poland.

Initially, the plant will focus on serving the customer segments, Forest industry and Consumer packaging. The investment corresponds to a commitment of close to 10 MEUR. In the start-up phase, the plant will employ about 50 people.

“With this investment, Walki is showing its strong commitment to its fast growing customer base in Central and Eastern Europe by providing more efficient and sustainable supply chain solutions and better customer service capabilities. Being close to our customers has always been paramount to Walki and with this green field facility we will now be able to offer shorter lead times and on a longer term a wider product offering”, says Leif Frilund, President and CEO.

“By setting up this world class manufacturing unit, we are creating a platform to expand our operations as we continue to grow. Further, we will have more opportunities to optimize our European production activities and to get access to new raw-material sources” says Timo Finnström, Executive Vice President – Operations.

The site is strategically located in Wroclaw in the south west of Poland with excellent highway access and proximity to major markets.

The Annual General Meeting of Kemira Oyj approved the Board proposal of a EUR 0.53 dividend per share for the financial year 2012. The Annual General Meeting decided to elect five members to the Board of Directors. Members Winnie Fok, Juha Laaksonen, Jari Paasikivi, Kerttu Tuomas and Jukka Viinanen were reelected to the Board of Directors. Jukka Viinanen was elected to continue as the Board's Chairman and Jari Paasikivi was elected to continue as the Vice Chairman.

Dividend payment

The dividend of EUR 0.53 per share will be paid to a shareholder who is registered in the company's Shareholder Register maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on the dividend record date, April 2, 2013. The dividend will be paid out on April 9, 2013.

Remuneration of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman and the members of the Board of Director

The Annual General Meeting decided that the remuneration paid to the members of the Board of Directors will be as follows: the Chairman will receive EUR 74,000 per year, the Vice Chairman and the Chairman of the Audit Committee EUR 45,000 per year and the other members EUR 36,000 per year. A fee payable for each meeting of the Board of Directors and the Board Committees will be EUR 600 for the members residing in Finland, EUR 1,200 for the members residing in rest of Europe and EUR 2,400 for the members residing outside Europe. Travel expenses are paid according to Kemira's travel policy.

In addition, the Annual General Meeting decided that the annual fee be paid as a combination of the company's shares and cash in such a manner that 40% of the annual fee is paid with the company's shares owned by the company or, if this is not possible, shares purchased from the market, and 60% is paid in cash. The shares will be transferred to the members of the Board of Directors and, if necessary, acquired directly on behalf of the members of the Board of Directors within two weeks from the release of Kemira's interim report January 1 - March 31, 2013.

The meeting fees are to be paid in cash.

Election of the auditor

Deloitte & Touche Oy was elected as the company's auditor with Jukka Vattulainen, APA, acting as the principal auditor. The Auditor's fees will be paid against an invoice approved by Kemira.

Authorization to decide on the repurchase of the company's own shares

The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to decide upon repurchase of a maximum of 4,500,000 company's own shares ("Share repurchase authorization").

Shares will be repurchased by using unrestricted equity either through a tender offer with equal terms to all shareholders at a price determined by the Board of Directors or otherwise than in proportion to the existing shareholdings of the company's shareholders in public trading on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (the "Helsinki Stock Exchange") at the market price quoted at the time of the repurchase.

The price paid for the shares repurchased through a tender offer under the authorization shall be based on the market price of the company's shares in public trading. The minimum price to be paid would be the lowest market price of the share quoted in public trading during the authorization period and the maximum price the highest market price quoted during the authorization period.

Shares shall be acquired and paid for in accordance with the Rules of the Helsinki Stock Exchange and Euroclear Finland Ltd.

Shares may be repurchased to be used in implementing or financing mergers and acquisitions, developing the company's capital structure, improving the liquidity of the company's shares or to be used for the payment of the annual fee payable to the members of the Board of Directors or implementing the company's share-based incentive plans. In order to realize the aforementioned purposes, the shares acquired may be retained, transferred further or cancelled by the company.

The Board of Directors will decide upon other terms related to share repurchase.

The Share repurchase authorization is valid until the end of the next Annual General Meeting.

Authorization to decide on share issue

The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to decide to issue a maximum of 15,600,000 new shares and/or transfer a maximum of 7,800,000 company's own shares held by the company ("Share issue authorization").

The new shares may be issued and the company's own shares held by the company may be transferred either for consideration or without consideration.

The new shares may be issued and the company's own shares held by the company may be transferred to the company's shareholders in proportion to their current shareholdings in the company, or by disapplying the shareholders' pre-emption right, through a directed share issue, if the company has a weighty financial reason to do so, such as financing or implementing mergers and acquisitions, developing the capital structure of the company, improving the liquidity of the company's shares or if this is justified for the payment of the annual fee payable to the members of the Board of Directors or implementing the company's share-based incentive plans. The directed share issue may be carried out without consideration only in connection with the implementation of the company's share-based incentive plan.

The subscription price of new shares shall be recorded to the invested unrestricted equity reserves. The consideration payable for company's own shares shall be recorded to the invested unrestricted equity reserves.

The Board of Directors will decide upon other terms related to the share issues.

The Share issue authorization is valid until May 31, 2014.

On 12 March, the North American pulp and paper company Domtar announced that it had started the operation of a facility for separating lignin from the process at its pulp mill in Plymouth, North Carolina. The facility is the first of its kind in the world on a commercial scale, based on the LignoBoost technology developed by Swedish research company Innventia and researchers at Chalmers University of Technology.

The successful installation of the LignoBoost facility represents the culmination of a research and technology project that Domtar began in 2010. BioChoice lignin is Domtar’s name for the product, and production in Plymouth – capacity around 75 tonnes per day – began in February this year. The lignin is intended to be used for a wide range of industrial applications, for example as a bio-based alternative to oil and other fossil fuels, or as raw material for other materials.

LignoBoost is a unique and effective process for extracting high-quality lignin from kraft pulp mills, and has generated a great deal of interest – both in Sweden and internationally. The technology has been developed since the late 1990s by Innventia in Stockholm, in association with Chalmers University of Technology, within the framework of three research programmes. In 2008, Innventia sold the LignoBoost concept to the technology company Metso, which is now delivering the first facility to Domtar.

“It’s extremely gratifying to see the technology being installed on a full scale,” says Innventia’s Per Tomani, one of the people behind LignoBoost. “Having worked on this right from the beginning, it’s a very special day when production goes live. Lots of people have been involved in the various R&D activities along the way, and I’m sure they all feel the same way too.”

The technology is being continuously improved. Metso and Innventia have been working together since 2008 to refine the technology and to develop new lignin applications in partnership with potential customers. Lignin is one of the main focus areas for Innventia’s research and development, and the work is being carried out in association with customers within the industry.

“It would be fantastic if this were to represent a reversal of the trend,” continues Per. “It creates opportunities for developing kraft pulp mills into modern biorefineries that can supply large volumes of products in addition to the traditional fibre products and by-products – primarily tall oil and electricity. 

International technology Group ANDRITZ received an order to supply a stock preparation system to Siam Kraft Industry Co., Ltd. (SGP Paper) for a new PM 16 corrugated board plant located in Ratchaburi, Thailand. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2014.

ANDRITZ’s scope of supply includes the complete stock preparation system: a drum pulping line with capacity of 1,200 t/d based on 100% Local Old Corrugated Container (LOCC) and a state-of-the-art reject handling system. With this order, ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER confirms its position as one of the leading suppliers of OCC and reject handling systems for the Asian market.

SCG Paper is a leading Asian manufacturer of packaging papers. Total capacity, produced on 14 lines in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, amounts to approximately 1.9 million t/a of packaging paper that is certified to international environmental standards.

Proven automation solution and information management helps waste-to-energy plants to maximize performance and operate safely.

Metso has been awarded its 5th repeated order from the CNIM group for the automation of another greenfield waste-to-energy plant in Great Blakenham (Suffolk, UK). Metso will supply an extensive Metso DNA automation system and safety system to the new plant. This order comes after similar ones for WtE plant in Turin (Italy), Tallin (Estonia), North Hykeham (Lincolnshire, UK) and Four Ashes (Stafford, UK).

Metso DNA provides one system for all process controls and plant information management. The integrated process automation system covers all plant processes from boilers to turbines. High-level reliability is ensured through an integrated, TÛV certified safety solution.

Metso’s automation solutions play a significant role in managing waste-to-energy plants successfully and help them reaching their goals of maximizing incineration capacity, keeping combustion and steam production stable while allowing high availability of the production processes.

The new Suffolk waste-to-energy plant is owned by the Suffolk County Council and will be operated by Sita Suffolk limited. It will have an electric output of 20 MWe enough to power 30 000 homes and it is designed to handle an annual amount of 269 000 tons of residual waste. The plant is planned to go on line by the end of 2014.

The CNIM group acts as a contractor in the Suffolk project. Established in 15 countries, the CNIM Group designs and produces turnkey industrial solutions and offers expert research, expertise and operations services in the fields of environment, energy, defense and industry. The group has 3,000 employees, and its turnover was 665 million euros in 2011.

The Board of Directors of Metso Corporation has decided to commence a process to study the potential separation of the company’s Pulp, Paper and Power businesses into a new company, which would be listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange. Metso’s current Mining and Construction and Automation businesses would remain in the current company after the possible separation. The contemplated transaction would be designed to help the two companies to capitalize on their strengths in their respective markets faster and more efficiently.

Jukka Viinanen, Metso’s Chairman of the Board, says that Metso has developed its businesses purposefully during the past years to the point where entering the next stage of development would be smoother as separate companies. “Both of them are strong global businesses with well-established positions in their customer industries. By separating the two, we would seek to accelerate strategy implementation, as clearer business structures would increase the focus and ambition of the two companies with distinct growth strategies. The Board also believes that both companies would be seen as attractive investments, which has the potential to increase value for our shareholders.”

”Developing Mining, Construction and Automation and Pulp, Paper and Power businesses separately would help the already strong two entities to fully realize their potential. This would in turn benefit our customers and personnel through more focused management, superior competence development and customer services, and through enabling both companies to cultivate their technology and services offering that would match their goals perfectly,” says Matti Kähkönen, Metso’s President and CEO.

The study relating to the possible separation will concentrate on a range of issues, including certain matters pertaining to taxation and financing. Metso will also discuss the potential demerger with its customers, suppliers, rating agencies, creditors, employees and other relevant third parties. The Metso Board aims to finalize the study process and announce further details about the possible separation by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Although no decisions have been taken, the separation, if carried out, would likely be by means of a demerger (i.e. partial demerger as defined in the Finnish Companies Act), after which the Mining, Construction and Automation businesses would remain with Metso, whereas Pulp, Paper and Power businesses would constitute the new company, which would be listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange. The new company would initially have the same ownership structure as Metso and would be totally independent from it without any cross-ownership between Metso and the new company. This strategy study will be headed by Metso’s President and CEO Matti Kähkönen.

If implemented, the demerger would leave Metso shareholders’ ownership in the company unchanged. In addition, Metso shareholders would receive shares in the new company as demerger consideration in proportion to their shareholding in Metso.

If Metso decides to pursue the demerger, the Board of Metso would expect to approve and register a demerger plan by the end of the second quarter of 2013.Metso’s Extraordinary General Meeting would be expected to make its final decision on the potential demerger during the second half of 2013. The demerger and listing of the new company’s shares would be expected to take place before the end of 2013.

Significant shareholders of Metso (Solidium, Cevian Capital, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company) have expressed their support to the Board’s decision to commence a strategy study relating to the possible demerger.

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) has announced that Lamar M. Chambers, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will retire in July after 37 years of service to the company. The board of directors has elected J. Kevin Willis to succeed Chambers as senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 3, 2013.

Chambers has served as senior vice president and CFO since 2008. Prior to that, he spent four years as vice president and controller. He joined Ashland in 1976 as a staff auditor and later held a series of finance and operations leadership positions, both at the corporate and subsidiary levels, during his more than three decades of service to Ashland. In 2012, Chambers was named CFO of the Year by Chemical Week, a leading industry trade magazine.

Until his retirement on July 1, 2013, Chambers will remain on the management team as senior vice president and will continue to serve on Ashland's Executive Committee to help ensure a smooth transition.

"Lamar has played a pivotal role in Ashland's growth and transformation over the past decade," said James J. O'Brien, Ashland chairman and chief executive officer. "Under his leadership, Ashland's finance organization has established a reputation for performance, accountability and transparency during an incredibly busy period of acquisitions and divestitures. Lamar and I began our careers with Ashland just a few months apart, and through the years he has been a good friend and trusted partner, embodying the best of what Ashland stands for. We are grateful for his many significant contributions and wish Lamar and his family much happiness in the years ahead."

In his new role, Willis, 47, will be responsible for all worldwide financial functions and processes, including financial accounting and reporting, treasury and finance, insurance, business development, planning and analysis, investor relations, tax and internal audit activities. He also will serve as a member of Ashland's Executive Committee.

Since Ashland's acquisition of International Specialty Products (ISP) in August 2011, Willis has served as Ashland's vice president of finance, and controller for Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland's largest and fastest-growing commercial unit. In that role, he has been responsible for the day-to-day management of the financial organization and processes within Specialty Ingredients. He also has served on the leadership team.

A native of Richmond, Ky., Willis joined Ashland in 1987 as an associate auditor. He served in various management positions of increasing responsibility, including leading teams on major projects in the business services, information technology, accounting and finance areas. Among the positions he previously held were treasurer and general auditor at Ashland. Earlier in his career, Willis spent nearly three years in The Netherlands helping lead Ashland's effort to standardize processes and implement accounting and other administrative shared services across European operations. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and an executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

"Kevin has played a critical role in the successful integration of ISP and the ongoing growth of Specialty Ingredients," O'Brien said. "Throughout his career, Kevin has displayed the leadership, critical thinking and vision that have been so vital to Ashland's transformation into a global specialty chemical company. We look forward to his contributions leading our worldwide finance team as we position Ashland for continued growth."

International Paper has joined the Global Forest & Trade Network in North America (GFTN), one of World Wildlife Fund (WWF)'s initiatives focused on eliminating illegal logging and promoting environmentally and socially responsible forest management.  International Paper joins a network of more than 200 companies and communities around the globe committed to the responsible forest management and sourcing of forest products.

"We have long been committed to responsible forestry everywhere we operate, and collaborating with WWF is an excellent way to demonstrate and grow that commitment," said Teri Shanahan, International Paper's vice president, Sustainability.  The initial scope of International Paper's participation in GFTN will encompass fiber sourced for the company's North American and Brazilian mills, representing more than two thirds of its global fiber volume.

"By joining GFTN and increasing its sourcing of credibly certified fiber, International Paper – as the world's largest paper and packaging company  – can use its purchasing power to drive improvements in responsible forestry around the globe," said Suzanne Apple, vice president of Business and Industry for WWF. "This kind of leadership is critical to conserving the places and species we are working so hard to protect."

In the U.S., International Paper has increased its sourcing of Forest Stewardship Council certified fiber by more than 1.2 million tons over the past five years, and expects to triple that increase by the end of 2014.  While IP supports multiple certification standards, the company has developed a highly successful model for increasing its supply of FSC-certified fiber in the Southeastern United States.  In Brazil, International Paper's operations source approximately 75 percent of its pulp wood from FSC-certified sources.

As a GFTN participant, International Paper will release an updated global fiber sourcing policy, which can be viewed at internationalpaper.com.  International Paper announced a set of voluntary goals in 2012, including one focused on increasing 3^rd-party certified wood fiber by 15% by 2020.  Participation in GFTN aligns well with this goal, as the company implements an action plan toward achieving its 2020 target.  In addition, International Paper will support WWF's efforts to protect forests holding particular value for their biodiversity, landscape and socio-economic benefits.  International Paper is committed to chain-of-custody certification, providing additional assurance that wood products from certified and responsibly managed forests are tracked throughout the supply chain.

"Ensuring the continued health of the world's forests is among our top priorities at International Paper," said James McDonald, International Paper's manager, Sustainability.  "We see our voluntary sustainability goals as well as collaboration with GFTN as important for continuing to protect this natural resource."

SOURCE International Paper

Kemira will open a new AKD-emulsion line in Sweden to better serve big sizing clients. New capacity will be available during summer 2013.

AKD is an alkyl ketene dimer based sizing agent, which impacts paper and board hydrophobicity or water resistance. Sufficient hydrophobicity is important for packaging materials and it improves paper or board runnability in a coating process. Water resistance also improves printability and dimension stability of the final product during the converting process.

Kemira holds complete supply chain from key raw materials to the final emulsion product.