The combined group will be a European producer of bulky book paper, graphic fine paper, and pulp for paper producers. In addition, it will remain a significant supplier of market pulp. The combined group will have a good balance between pulp production and consumption in the fine paper mills and will thus be less volatile than the two companies as stand-alone entities, Arctic Paper notes. It will have four fine paper mills and two pulp mills.
Arctic Paper does not anticipate any material effects of the implementation of the offer for Rottneros' business or employees, including employment conditions and employment levels at locations where Rottneros currently conducts business.
Until the completion of the offer, Rottneros and Arctic Paper will operate as two independent listed companies with their current boards and management teams, respectively.
Arctic Paper has its roots in the Swedish Trebruk AB group, established in 1990 with Munkedal as one of the mills. Over time, Arctic Paper has expanded geographically to become the second-largest European producer of bulky book paper and one of Europe's leading producers of fine graphic paper. Arctic Paper is a major purchaser of paper pulp, from which it produces numerous types of paper for printing houses, paper distributors, book and magazine publishing houses, and the advertising industry.
The group's paper mills are located in Sweden (Grycksbo and Munkedal), Poland (Kostrzyn nad Odra), and Germany (Mochenwangen), with a total annual production capacity of more than 800,000 metric tons of paper. Through 15 wholly-owned sales and distribution companies, Arctic Paper has access to all European markets. In 2011, the company employed close to 1,600 people and its consolidated sales revenue amounted to PLN 2,527 million (SEK 5,551 million).
Rottneros operates two pulp mills in Sweden, the Rottneros Mill (first photo below) and the Vallvik Mill (second photo below), with a total annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 metric tons. In 2011, Rottneros employed around 300 people and its consolidated sales revenue amounted to SEK 1,513 million (PLN 689 million).
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