SCA has named Joséphine Edwall-Björklund as its new Senior Vice President Corporate Communications.

Joséphine Edwall-Björklund, 48, has held leading positions in communications since 1988. She currently holds the position of Vice President Communications at Ericsson Global Services. She has been working for Ericsson since 1991.

As head of the Corporate Communications staff, Joséphine Edwall-Björklund will be a member of SCA’s Corporate Senior Management Team, reporting to CEO Jan Johansson.

“Joséphine Edwall-Björklund has a broad background in internal and external communications including branding and M&A, which will be of great value for SCA”, comments Jan Johansson, President and CEO.

She will assume her position on September 15.

The European Commission has today, 5 July 2012, approved SCA's acquisition of Georgia-Pacific's European tissue business. The purchase price amounts to EUR 1.32 bn on a debt free basis. The operations have approximately 4,700 employees.

The acquisition confirms SCA’s position as a European leader in the industry with an enhanced, integrated European tissue business and well-known brands.

Georgia-Pacific’s European tissue business, which comprises of15 plants located in seven countries and the well-known Lotus brand, will be transferred to SCA´s ownership in connection with the closing of the deal which is expected 20 July.

EU´s clearance requires divestment of Georgia-Pacific´s consumer tissue business in the UK including production capacity, Georgia-Pacific´s Benelux consumer tissue branded business under the Lotus brand and some of Georgia-Pacific´s and SCA`s retailer branded business in Scandinavia including production capacity.

Forest industry and conservation group signatories to the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) made recommendations in late June for an area of Ontario’s boreal forest almost five times the size of Metro Toronto. The plan applies to approximately 3 million hectares of the Abitibi River Forest.

The area in question is managed as a co-operative Sustainable Forest Licence. It extends north and east of Kapuskasing and Timmins, to the Quebec border. The two largest shareholders in the co-operative are Tembec Inc. and Resolute Forest Products,

The proposed approach and recommendations are intended to produce more than 800,000 hectares of critical habitat for Boreal woodland caribou that would be excluded from harvest. The remaining 2.2 million hectares would remain open to forestry, with high standards of sustainable forest practices in place to safeguard wildlife and ecosystems.

“The CBFA's cooperative, multi-stakeholder approach has produced an action plan which strengthens Canada's position as a progressive forestry leader by preserving jobs and strengthening communities, while protecting forest ecosystems and natural habitat. It is yet another example of our industry's commitment to true sustainable development," said James Lopez, president and CEO of Tembec, speaking on behalf of Canadian forestry companies.

Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle said the Ontario government supports the collaborative efforts of the CBFA and will review the details of the recommendations.

The anticipated outcomes of these recommendations are:

- Greater conservation of forested areas that are critical caribou habitat, and increased harvesting emphasis placed on areas where caribou have not been present for some time;

- An increase to over 835,000 hectares of boreal woodland caribou habitat excluded from timber harvesting;

- Approximately 2.2 million hectares that remain open to timber harvest  with increased yields of spruce saw logs and pulp, but with greater conservation measures for caribou habitat; and

- An estimated 20% increase in spruce wood supply for the next 30 years from the current direction for the area.

“We are very pleased with this tangible success achieved in Northeast Ontario. It serves as a good example of the importance of having various stakeholders working together in a truly collaborative spirit.  Such an approach yields a result supporting the three pillars of sustainability -- environmental, social and economic," stated Richard Garneau, president and CEO of Resolute Forest Products.

The CBFA has proposed a zonation approach to forestry that includes a no-harvesting zone covering an area of 835,000 ha that complements and includes existing protected areas in the northern reaches of the Abitibi River Forest; a Caribou Recovery Zone composed of deferrals and harvest areas (985,000 ha); and, a Strategic Caribou Recovery Zone where normally approved forestry with supplemental caribou recovery objectives will be undertaken (1,200,000 ha).

The plan increases wood supply for industry relative to the current direction by approximately 20% over the next 30 years. This provides a degree of business certainty for both forest operators and local communities.

UPM is entering into exclusive negotiations with VPK Packaging Group NV and Klingele Papierwerke through their newly created joint venture company, for the sale of assets and part of the land at the UPM Stracel paper mill site in Strasbourg, France. VPK and Klingele have made an offer on the acquisition of assets from UPM. The offer is subject to finalization of its review by the bank mandated for the financing. According to the plan, UPM would retain part of the Stracel real estate in its possession for potential future production of advanced biofuels. 

VPK and Klingele plan to convert the Stracel mill into a recycled fibre-based containerboard unit, producing fluting and test-liner. The planned production of the mill would be approximately 300 000 tonnes per year. The conversion from the current magazine paper production would require a considerable investment by the two buying companies. The new converted mill would create 140 jobs. 

This transaction is subject to completion of the employee information and consultation process on the planned closure of Stracel and the social plan implemented by UPM at such occasion, which the contemplated transaction is a part of, due to the 130 job offers it is to provide to former UPM employees. This process will be launched shortly and is expected to be completed during the second half of 2012. 

On August 31, 2011 UPM announced the completion of a comprehensive review of the long term competitiveness of its publication paper mills. As a part of this review UPM announced the intent for the sale or other exit of the UPM Stracel paper mill. Since this, UPM has been working closely with the political, administrative and economic stakeholders to find the best possible solutions for the site and the employees. 

“UPM has been conducting an active search for a buyer which could engage in a serious and credible project for the industrial restructuring of the Stracel site. The plan at hand provides a good opportunity for a new future for Stracel and would create a significant number of job opportunities on the site”, says Jyrki Ovaska, President of UPM Paper Business Group. 

If UPM accepts the offer that has been submitted, the conversion project could start and the reconversion period would be approximately 12 months. Providing the plan proceeds, the converted mill would start the production in the second half of 2013.

NewPage Corporation (NewPage) has announced that it has been engaged in a series of discussions with its various constituents, including first lien note holders, second lien note holders and the Unsecured Creditors' Committee, in an effort to finalize a consensual Chapter 11 plan. Information relating to these discussions has been posted on the NewPage restructuring website www.NewPageRestructuring.com.

During these discussions, an ad hoc group of second lien note holders presented to an ad hoc group of first lien note holders an unsolicited proposal to combine NewPage and Verso Paper Corp. (Verso). After thoroughly evaluating this proposal, NewPage determined that the combination posed significant downside risks to its stakeholders, employees, and business. NewPage has also been advised that the first lien note holder group did not support the proposal.  Accordingly, NewPage does not anticipate further discussions regarding this proposal.

SOURCE NewPage Corporation

Following the successful completion of the environmental impact assessment process for the new TENCEL® production plant in Lenzing/Upper Austria nine months after the formal filing of the project, Lenzing AG was formally granted a legally binding building permit by the Office of the Provincial Government of Upper Austria. Construction work has now commenced on the new production facility which will manufacture 67,000 tons p.a. of the specialty fiber TENCEL® in Upper Austria in the future. Construction time has been calculated at 24 months.

Lenzing AG will invest approximately EUR 130 mn in the new factory, making it one of the largest individual industrial investments in Austria at the present time. This project will be accompanied by considerable infrastructure investments. Moreover, once it is put into operation the TENCEL® production plant will generate 110 additional highly qualified jobs in Lenzing in the long term, as well as a large number of other jobs in the region. The planning and construction of the facility also leads to a corresponding value creation.
Specialty fiber site in Lenzing

“With the TENCEL® plant the fiber technology of the future and the latest generation of man-made cellulose fibers is returning to our corporate headquarters in Lenzing. The Lenzing pilot plant was the place where 20 years ago the first marketable lyocell fibers in the history of the Lenzing Group were produced. They are now marketed around the world under the TENCEL® brand name”, says a pleased Friedrich Weninger, Member of the Management Board of the Lenzing Group and Chief Operating Officer responsible for the fiber business.

The new TENCEL® facility is of major strategic importance to the Lenzing site due to the fact that TENCEL® will also be produced on the premises in addition to the specialty fibers Lenzing Modal® and Lenzing FR®. Thus the facility in Lenzing will further expand its position as the main specialty fiber production site for the Lenzing Group. The geographical proximity to the European growth market for TENCEL®, the attractive energy costs as a consequence of the company’s own on-site power generation capabilities as well as the availability of a sufficient pool of qualified personnel and the closeness to the TENCEL® pilot plant were the main reasons underlying the decision to locate the new plant in Upper Austria.
TENCEL®: The fiber of the future

TENCEL® fibers are used in the textile industry and for nonwovens. The production process is particularly environmentally compatible, and is characterized by the practically complete closed cycle of the solvent in use. Lenzing continues to be the only industrial-scale supplier of TENCEL®. The fibers are already being manufactured at the plants in Heiligenkreuz/Burgenland, Grimsby/U.K. and in Mobile/Alabama/USA. However, up to the present time production lines with an annual capacity of not more than 20,000 tons have been used. The current nominal production capacity of TENCEL® in the Lenzing Group totals approximately 140,000 tons p.a., which will be increased to 150,000 tons p.a. thanks to the expansion program now being implemented at the Mobile/Alabama site.

New applications are continually being developed. The optimal moisture management of the TENCEL® fibers makes it attractive for use in high quality home textiles such as quilts and bed linen, but also in ladies’ outerwear and activewear. TENCEL® is also designed for sensitive segments such as cosmetics, hygiene and medicine, for example in wound dressings and baby wipes. TENCEL® is even used in the technical segment, for example to enhance the strength of plastics or to manufacture electro-technical components. The latest technical application is TENCEL® powder. It is deployed as a moisture regulator in foam mattresses and as additives to building materials, amongst other uses.

The turnover of Vaahto Group for 1 September 2011–31 May 2012 was 38.6 MEUR (compared with 40.4 MEUR for the corresponding period in the previous financial year), with an operating loss of 4.4 MEUR (compared with an operating loss of 0.6 MEUR). The turnover fell by 4.5% from the reference period level, causing the operating result to remain markedly weaker than in the reference period. The Group’s order book amounted to 17.9 MEUR on 31 May 2012, whereas it was 22.4 MEUR at the start of the period under review on 1 September 2011. 

Vaahto Group Plc Oyj’s extraordinary general meeting on 19 June 2012 appointed Sami Alatalo as a new Board member. The general meeting also approved an amendment to the statutes, based on which the company’s normal financial year was changed to 1 January–31 December. Consequently, the duration of the current financial year will be sixteen (16) months (1 September 2011–31 December 2012). 

Vaahto Paper Technology 

The turnover of the Vaahto Paper Technology division for 1 September 2011–31 May 2012 was 24.7 MEUR (28.8 MEUR), and its operating loss was 3.5 MEUR (operating profit 0.4 MEUR). The turnover fell by 14.5% from the reference period level, causing the result to remain weaker than that of the reference period. The main reason for the Vaahto Paper Technology division’s loss-making result was the weak profitability of the projects that were entered as income for the period under review. 

In the period under review, the most significant new order in the project business was the modernisation of the pulp dryer at the Södra Cell Mönsterås pulp mill. There have been clear signs that the market situation of the project business is becoming more intense. The market situation of the service business has continued to be fairly good for the time being. 

In the period under review, the organisation and business structure of the Vaahto Paper Technology division was clarified. Measures were taken to strengthen particularly the sales and product development operations, while cost-effectiveness was improved by combining overlapping operations. 

The company has made strategic definitions to focus on the service business in the Vaahto Paper Technology division, with a goal of becoming a strong Nordic service organisation. A new intensification programme has been started in the service business, the effects of which are expected to be seen in the final months of the extended financial year. 

Vaahto Process Technology 
The turnover of the Vaahto Process Technology division for 1 September 2011–31 May 2012 was 14.0 MEUR (11.6 MEUR), and its operating loss was 0.9 MEUR (operating loss 1.0 MEUR). The turnover increased by 20.9% compared to the reference period, and the result was slightly better than that of the reference period. The result was weakened by the low profitability of the delivery projects in the vessel business during the period under review. 

The market situation of the Vaahto Process Technology division has remained fairly good and the division’s order book grew during the period under review. The division’s agitator business is seen as one of the Group’s strategic areas of focus. 

Directed share issue and share exchange agreement The company’s Board of Directors decided on 19 April 2012 to issue 600,000 new shares and to deviate from the shareholders’ subscription privilege, issuing the shares to a group of selected investors instead. Based on the discussions with the investors, the subscription price was agreed at 3.50 EUR per share, thus the total subscription price amounted to 2,100,000 EUR. 

The company’s Board also decided to approve a share exchange agreement, which was signed on 19 April 2012, concerning the company’s subsidiary AP-Tela Oy, as well as a directed share issue based on the agreement in order to carry out a share exchange for the minority shareholders of AP-Tela Oy. Following the share exchange, the Group’s share in AP-Tela Oy is 100%. 

Estimate for the financial year 1 September 2011–31 December 2012 
There have been worrying trends in the development of the international financial situation and the market situation of Vaahto Group’s main branches of industry has continued on its difficult course. The operating result of Vaahto Group’s extended financial year is estimated to be loss-making and weaker than what was previously forecast for the twelve (12) month financial year. In order to secure the company’s financial position, discussions are underway to arrange long-term financing. In order to revive the Group, the Board is also reviewing opportunities to make structural arrangements. Due to a market situation that is difficult to predict, there remains significant uncertainty over the estimation of the result for the financial year. 

Interim report for 1 September 2011–31 August 2012 
The extraordinary general meeting of Vaahto Group Plc Oyj on 19 June 2012 decided that the company’s normal financial year would be changed to 1 January–31 December. The company’s current financial year 1 September 2011–31 August 2012 is therefore extended to sixteen (16) months, ending on 31 December 2012. Vaahto Group will release its interim report for twelve months on 10 October 2012.

SCA’s previously announced divestment of its packaging business, excluding the two kraftliner mills in Sweden, has been completed.

The buyer is DS Smith and the purchase price amounts to EUR 1.7bn on a debt-free basis. SCA’s two kraftliner mills in Sweden are not included in the transaction as they are well integrated with SCA´s forest products operations.

The divested operations have approximately 12,000 employees.