Suzano Becomes Brazil’s Third Largest Sanitary Paper Producer
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
This week Suzano Pulp and Paper, Sao Paulo, Brazil, finalized the acquisition of Facepa (Fábrica de Papel da Amazônia S.A.), a company that operates mills in Belém, Pará, and in Fortaleza, Ceará. With the acquisition, Suzano became the third largest manufacturer of sanitary papers in Brazil, with a prominent position in the country’s North and Northeast regions.
"We want to be a market leader in the North and Northeast by the end of this year. To achieve this, we will expand the local offering of high quality products and further strengthen relations with our clients," said Fabio Prado,consumer goods executive officer.
Announced in December 2017 and consummated on March 1,2018, the Facepa merger will combine Suzano’s toilet paper brand Max Pure® with the product lines under brands such as Le Blanc® and Floral® of Facepa, whose sanitary paper portfolio also includes napkins and paper towels. Combined, the annual installed capacity of the four mills is some 170,000 metric tons of sanitary paper.
To become one of the largest producers in this market in Brazil, Suzano invested around R$850 million in building two mills and in acquiring Facepa. The company invested R$540 million in its Mucuri and Imperatriz Units and approximately R$310 million in the acquisition of Facepa. At its units, the annual production of 120,000 metric tons is divided between finished goods and papers sold in jumbo rolls.
The acquisition is aligned with the goal to expand Suzano’s activities into markets of goods adjacent to pulp, to expand the operations of its new Suzano Consumer Goods business unit and to ensure a better offering of products in the Northeast and North regions to further strengthen relations with end consumers.
Before the startup of production at the Mucuri and Imperatriz mills, regional demand for sanitary papers, also known as tissue, was served only by producers installed in the Southeast and South of the country or by local companies. Now, with Suzano’s merger with Facepa, which was approved without qualification by Brazil’s antitrust authority CADE, the quality of the services offered in these regions will start improving for consumers, the company noted.