Stora Enso to sell its recycled fiber consumer board mill in Barcelona to PE firm

Stora Enso has signed an agreement to sell its Barcelona mill to private equity firm Quantum Capital Partners as it looks to further its move towards focusing on virgin fiber products.

The transaction is in line with Stora Enso’s strategy to focus its consumer board offering on high quality virgin fiber products

The mill in Barcelona, Spain produces consumer board from recycled fiber, and the transaction is in line with Stora Enso’s strategy to focus its consumer board offering on high quality virgin fiber products.

Quantum Capital Partners is a German private equity firm headquartered in Munich. It focuses on corporate spin-offs and carve-outs in which the acquisition target has a turnover between 20-500 million EUR (22-555 million USD) and can benefit from the firm’s operational experience. Quantum Capital Partners has completed a series of successful transactions with leading global corporations such as Bosch, BASF and Airbus Group. Its current portfolio consists of seven companies, with a combined turnover of some 350 million EUR (386 million USD). Quantum Capital Partners operates a newly established fund of more than 57 million EUR (63 million USD), and completed five transactions in 2014 and two in 2015.

The initial cash consideration for the divestment of the shares is approximately 10 million EUR (11 million USD). Based on the annual figures for 2014, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso’s annual sales by 117 million EUR (130 million USD) and simultaneously decrease Stora Enso’s annual board production capacity by approximately 195,000 tonnes.

Jari Latvanen, head of the Consumer Board division at Stora Enso, said: ‘Stora Enso is focusing its consumer board offering on high-quality virgin fibre products. The Barcelona mill is the only recycled fiber-based mill in our Consumer Board division. Despite positive results development in recent months, the Barcelona mill requires further development effort and investment if it is to remain on a profitable path. I believe that the mill can operate more efficiently under the new ownership.’