Stora Enso Exits North American Market with Sale to Cerberus Capital

Date: September 21, 2007

Source: News Room

Finnish pulp and paper company Stora Enso is selling its factory holdings in North America to NewPage, the paper industry subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, LP for $2.52 billion. NewPage is paying $1.5 billion cash, assuming $200 million notes and $450 million in debt. Stora Enso will be left with a 19.9% interest in the new entity to be called NewPage. It will comprise 12 paper mills with an estimated annual production capacity of 4.75 million tons. In 2006, NewPage and Stora Enso North America's combined pro forma sales and EBITDA were some $4.3 billion and $525 million, respectively.

The deal is a major retrenchment for Stora Enso which got its North American factories seven years ago, with the purchase of Consolidated Papers for EUR 4.9 billion. Stora Enso said that in the future it would concentrate its operations on Europe and possibly seek new growth in Russia, China, and South America.

For more information, visit:
Stora Enso: www.storaenso.com.
Cerberus Capital Management: www.cerberuscapital.com.

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