Displaying items by tag: ahlstrom

Financing of Suominen Corporation’s (Suominen) acquisition of Ahlstrom Corporation’s Home and Personal business area requires a share issue. Relating to the share issue, the Board of Directors of Suominen has, in addition to the prior commitments totaling EUR 80,265,000, received written commitments to subscribe for new shares in Suominen’s forthcoming share issue from the following current shareholders and investors: Pharmacy Pension Fund; Mr Harald Relander; Foundation for Economic Education; Onninen-sijoitus Oy; Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund; Finnish Cultural Foundation; and AC Invest Two B.V. The new subscription commitments together with earlier published commitments total EUR 86,165,000, i.e. the minimum amount of the share issue that has been agreed on in connection with the acquisition, EUR 85,000,000 or 188,888,889 shares, has been exceeded.

Further information on the forthcoming share issue will be released around 3 October 2011.

Suominen has previously published a stock exchange release concerning the acquisition and the prior subscription commitments on 4 August 2011.

Ahlstrom Corporation will publish its financial information in 2012 as follows:  

Report                                             Publication date              
Financial statements bulletin 2011      Wednesday, February 1   
Interim report January - March            Friday, April 27                  
Interim report January - June              Thursday, August 9           
Interim report January - September     Monday, October 22       

Silent period
Ahlstrom observes a silent period from the end of the each reporting period until the publication of the financial statements bulletin or the interim report. During the silent period, Ahlstrom will not be in contact with capital market representatives.

The annual report for 2011 will be available in a PDF format on Ahlstrom's web site on the week starting March 5, 2012.  

Ahlstrom's Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 1 p.m. at the Finlandia Hall (Mannerheimintie 13 e, Helsinki).

Ahlstrom Corporation, a global high performance materials company, announces that its Board of Directors has today decided to utilize the authorization given by the Annual General Meeting held on March 30, 2011 to repurchase Ahlstrom shares for the implementation of the company's share-based incentive plan.

The maximum number of shares to be acquired is 250,000 corresponding to about 0.54% of the total number of shares and votes. The repurchases will decrease the distributable capital and reserves. Ahlstrom currently holds a total of 19,005 own shares, corresponding to approximately 0.04% of the shares and votes.

The share repurchases will start on September 22, 2011 at the earliest, and end by the end of the next Annual General Meeting on April 3, 2012 at the latest.

The shares shall be acquired through public trading on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange at the market price prevailing at the time of repurchase. Evli Bank plc will act as stock broker in the repurchases.

Ahlstrom's Board of Directors has an authorization to acquire 4,000,000 of the company's own shares, which is valid until the end of the 2012 Annual General Meeting.

Ahlstrom Corporation, a global high performance materials company, has become a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Sustainability forms a key pillar of the Helsinki, Finland based company's business activities and centers around environmental, social and economic responsibility within its global operations.

Björn Stigson, President, WBCSD said: "Ahlstrom has a long history as a company and also in social responsibility. Corporate responsibility has been an integral part of Ahlstrom's business and way of thinking already for 160 years. I am delighted that they have decided to join the WBCSD."

"Ahlstrom's clear commitment to sustainable development is impressive: they take care of integrating sustainable practices into product development from cradle to gate, and across all aspects of their business operations. Ahlstrom brings a valuable wealth of expertise and knowledge to our organization," Björn Stigson continued.

Ahlstrom is a member of WBCSD's Sustainable Forest Products Industry (SFPI) work program, which provides a platform for members to address issues associated with sustainable forest management, wood sourcing, energy, carbon emissions and sequestration.

As part of the SFPI work program, Ahlstrom will concentrate on two areas. It will further develop its expertise to provide business leadership in expanding sustainable forest-based solutions. Ahlstrom will also help develop policy frameworks that are responsive to business needs. By improving UNFCCC's and climate negotiators' understanding of the carbon benefits of forests and forest products, those can be better reflected in relevant policy frameworks.

"Last year, 82 % of Ahlstrom's fiber raw material came from renewable sources. Going forward, we aim to further increase our renewable and responsible sourcing," said Anna Maija Wessman, Vice President, Sustainability, Ahlstrom Corporation.

Suominen Corporation has on 4 August 2011 signed an agreement with Ahlstrom Corporation to buy its Home and Personal wipes fabrics business area. By the acquisition Suominen will grow significantly and will become a global market leader within nonwoven roll goods for wipes.

The acquired business develops and manufactures nonwoven roll goods for wipes for households and industry. The business has manufacturing plants in Spain, Italy, Brazil and the U.S. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by competition authorities. Estimated closing of the transaction is by the end of October 2011.

The value of the transaction is approximately EUR 170 million. The transaction will be financed by share issue and debt. Debt capital arrangements have been agreed upon with financing institutions. Shareholders that represent a minimum of 64 percent of the shares and votes have committed to advocate a minimum of EUR 85 million and maximum of EUR 120 million share issue in the Extraordinary General Meeting. The directed share issue will be carried out as a public issue with a subscription price of EUR 0.45 per share. The subscription price is based on the volume weighted average share price of trading between 17 June and 2 August 2011. Ahlstrom has committed to subscribe for shares by totally EUR 30 million and subject to completion of the share issue Ahlstrom Corporation will become the largest shareholder of Suominen.

The largest current shareholders including Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Tapiola Mutual Pension Insurance Company and new shareholders Ahlstrom Corporation, Mandatum Life Insurance Company Ltd, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd have given their commitments to subscribe for new shares in the share issue. The commitments represent about EUR 80 million in total. In a potential oversubscription in the share issue shareholders precedent to the share issue will be favoured. The share issue is planned to be carried out in September-October 2011. The terms of the share issue will be proposed in the notice to the Extraordinary General Meeting.

Related to the transaction a new Board of Directors consisting of current and new board members for Suominen will be proposed to the Extraordinary General Meeting. As a new Chairman of the Board of Directors will be proposed h.c., M.Sc. (Tech) Jorma Eloranta (60) and as Vice Chairman the current Chairman of the Board Lic. (Tech.) Mikko Maijala (66), who have given their consents to the proposal. The Board of Directors of Suominen Corporation will propose to the same Extraordinary General Meeting the abolishment of the voting restriction and the redemption clause in the articles of association and to adopt a nomination board approved by the General Meeting. Shareholders representing at minimum 64 percent of the shares and votes have committed to vote for these decision proposals. The Extraordinary General Meeting is expected to be held in September 2011. The notice to the Extraordinary General Meeting will be published by a separate stock exchange release.

”The acquisition will create a Finnish listed company that is a global market leader in nonwoven roll goods for wiping, baby care, hygiene, household and industrial wiping. By expanding geographical coverage and by our strong market position we may respond to our customers’ needs by offering comprehensive sales and product development resources and a more extensive product and service range globally”, comments Petri Rolig, President and CEO of Suominen Corporation. ”Our target is the long-term development of the business, which is supported by complementing professional skills and by strengthening competencies in technology and R&D.”

The acquired business had net sales of EUR 291 million, operating profit of EUR 6.1 million and an EBITDA margin of 7.8 percent in 2010. About 480 persons will be transferred to Suominen by the transaction. As the head of the acquired business will continue the current head of the business area Jean-Marie Becker.

Ahlstrom will report the financial figures of the Home and Personal business area in the second quarter interim report of the current year. The Home and Personal business area will be classified as a non-current asset held for sale and reported separately as discontinued operations.

Subject to the transaction being completed by the end of October 2011, the net sales and profit figures for two months of the Home and Personal business and Suominen will be combined. The total balance sheet of Suominen is estimated to increase from about EUR 120 million to about EUR 330 million, of which the share of shareholders´ equity is estimated to be approximately one third. In the asset deal about EUR 40 million of goodwill will be transferred to Suominen, whereby the total goodwill in the balance sheet will be about EUR 60 million. An estimated EUR 2.5 million non-recurring costs from the asset deal will be booked in the income statement for the current year.

Subject to completing the asset deal by the end of October 2011, Suominen´s net sales in 2011 will increase significantly. Suominen has previously estimated in its interim report on 18 July 2011 that no major change from the previous year is anticipated in net sales for 2011. Taking into consideration the estimated result after taxes for two months of the Home and Personal business and the non-recurring costs arising from the asset deal, Suominen will not change its result estimate. Suominen has estimated in its interim report on 18 July 2011 that the result after taxes for all of 2011 will improve over 2010, but remain negative.

Information event
Suominen will hold a joint press and analyst event together with Ahlstrom in Helsinki today on 4 August 2011 at 12.00 p.m. Finnish time at Savoy, Eteläesplanadi 14. The event will be held in Finnish. Presentation material is available at Suominen´s website, www.suominen.fi.

Ahlstrom Corporation will publish its January-June 2011 interim report on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 before 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (+1 CET).

Ahlstrom's President & CEO Jan Lång and CFO Seppo Parvi will present the interim report in Finnish at a press and analyst conference in Helsinki on Wednesday, August 10 at 1.30 p.m. Finnish time. The conference will take place at event arena Bank, Unioninkatu 20, 2^nd floor. The name of the meeting room will be displayed on the board in the lobby.

In addition, CEO Lång and CFO Parvi will hold a conference call in English on the same day at 5 p.m. Finnish time. To participate in the teleconference, please dial +358 (0)9 2319 4250 in Finland or +44 (0)20 7136 6283 outside Finland a few minutes before the conference begins. The confirmation code is 6345530.

The event can also be viewed as a live audio webcast at www.ahlstrom.com. Registration is required. It is possible to participate in the Q & A session via teleconference or online.

An on-demand audio webcast of the conference will be available on Ahlstrom's website for twelve months after the call.

The presentation material will be available at www.ahlstrom.com > Investors > Reports and presentations > 2011 after the interim report has been published.

Patrick Jeambar (65), Executive Vice President, Label and Processing Business Area, will step down from the Executive Management Team of Ahlstrom Corporation as of September 1, 2011.

Daniele Borlatto (42), Vice President, Release & Label and Supply Chain, will succeed Patrick as the Executive Vice President, Label and Processing Business Area. He will take over his new role on September 1, 2011, when he will also become a member of the Executive Management Team. Daniele Borlatto will report to Jan Lång, President and CEO.

Daniele Borlatto has been working at Ahlstrom since 1990 in various senior roles, including as a member of the Executive Management Team in 2007-2010.

Patrick Jeambar will continue to work at the company during a transition period to support Daniele Borlatto in taking over his duties. Patrick Jeambar joined Ahlstrom in 1996 and has been a member of the Executive Management Team since 2003.

Ahlstrom, a global high performance materials company, announces price increases on its graphics and packaging products as a consequence of the rise in raw material, chemicals and energy costs.

The price increase will affect all graphics and packaging products worldwide and will be effective for all shipments made as of July 1, 2011. The increase will vary up to 10 percent, depending on products and markets. Specific details will be discussed with customers.

Ahlstrom's graphics and packaging products are part of the Label and Processing Business Area and their end-use applications include metalized wet glue labels, flexible packaging, envelope windows and repositionable notes.

Ahlstrom, a global high performance materials company, will invest into additional capacity in filtration material for gas turbine and high efficiency air applications at its site in Tampere, Finland. The investment will be completed by the end of September 2011.

"This capacity increase in Tampere is an important step for Ahlstrom's Filtration Business Area and we are committed to grow with our global customers in power generation and high efficiency air markets. We understand the importance of efficient and flawless gas turbine plant operation and we have focused on building the right product portfolio of filter media to meet these needs", states Fulvio Capussotti, Vice President, Advanced Filtration.

Ahlstrom is the leading manufacturer of filtration materials globally with 11 production sites across four continents. In 2010, the company acquired a transportation filtration plant in Binzhou, China and announced a EUR 17.5 million investment to expand capacity in Turin, Italy. The company recently announced additional investment to its plant in Louveira, Brazil.

Ahlstrom, a global high performance materials company, will invest into additional capacity in transportation filtration materials at its site in Louveira, Brazil. The investment will be completed in the first quarter of 2012.

"We have been pleased to grow with our key customers and as a commitment to the filtration business we are expanding the operation. This is another important step in our global growth roadmap where we have strengthened our global platform in Europe, Asia, and now in South America. We will continue to keep our focus on our markets in all four geographies - enabling  Ahlstrom to be a global supplier in the filtration market with a full offering of filter media", states Gary Blevins, Vice President, Transportation Filtration.

Ahlstrom is a leading manufacturer of filtration materials globally with 11 production sites across four continents. In 2010, the company acquired a transportation filtration plant in Binzhou, China and announced a EUR 17.5 million investment to expand capacity in Turin, Italy.