UPM has signed an agreement to sell 100% of the shares of its Austrian subsidiary UPM Kymmene-Austria GmbH to the HEINZEL GROUP, a leading pulp, packaging and paper producer and trader in Central and Eastern Europe.
The transaction comprises the UPM Steyrermühl site with approx. 400 employees, including the newsprint paper machine with an annual capacity of 320,000 tonnes and the Steyrermühl sawmill operations with an annual timber capacity of 370,000 m3. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the deal.
Closing of the transaction and end of newsprint production at UPM Steyrermühl are planned for the end of 2023. HEINZEL is planning to take over responsibility for the mill after closing. Until then, all operations continue as is.
UPM and HEINZEL GROUP will now engage in deeper discussions on specific technical and organizational aspects of the site to plan the future of the mill. HEINZEL plans to operate the UPM Steyrermühl site outside of graphic papers as an integrate together with its Laakirchen mill, which is located in the same communicaty. HEINZEL is considering the production of packaging materials to complement their existing product portfolio. The concrete plans for the repurposing of the new integrate will be communicated by HEINZEL as soon as these have been concluded.
UPM will remain committed to the newsprint business as one of the industry’s leading producers, continuing newsprint production at its Schongau, Ettringen, Hürth and Jämsänkoski mills. UPM will also remain committed to the Austrian newsprint market, serving customers from its remaining newsprint mills.
UPM Steyrermühl is located in Austria, some 60 kilometres from Linz and 70 kilometres from Salzburg. The Steyrermühl paper mill was founded in 1868. Today 400 people are working at the site - distributed among paper mill, sawmill and affiliated companies.
