Press: Anglo-American takes control over Russian pulp mill

MOSCOW, Feb 28 /Prime-TASS/ -- The world’s leading mining and natural resources developer Anglo-American Corporation has acquired a controlling stake in major Russian pulp producer Syktyvkar’s pulp mill, the business daily Vedomosti said Thursday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but analysts said it could be worth up to U.S. $300 million, which is equal to Syktyvkar’s capitalization.The Syktyvkar pulp mill, in Northwest Russia’s constituent republic of Komi, is Russia’s fifth-largest pulp producer, with an annual capacity of 650,000 tonnes. The company’s largest shareholders are Austria’s Frantschach with 19.4%, and portfolio investors Capital International, Russian Partners and Baring Vostok holding 7.7%, 8.1% and 9% respectively. Frantschach AG is part of Mondi, a wood-processing division of Anglo-American. Mondi owns a total of 115 mills in Europe. Two Syktyvkar mill shareholders confirmed that Frantschach was behind the deal, Vedomosti said. A spokesman for a company portfolio investor told Vedomosti that the Syktyvkar mill held a tender for a major stake in the company last year, and named Frantschach the winner. The tender also featured U.S. International Paper and an unspecified Finnish company.