Horizon Pulp & Paper, an Estonia-based sack kraft producer, has appointed Bashyam Krishnan its new CEO and chairman. Aime-Kersti Kelder and Roman Bukachev were also re-named members of the company’s management board.
Krishnan is a graduate in chemical engineering with a total of 29 years of work experience, of which 21 years have been in India. Since 2005, he was engaged in several senior management and development functions in Thailand and Egypt operations of Aditya Birla Group, an Indian multinational company with annual gross revenue of $40 billion. Krishnan has extensive experience in manufacturing, projects, and general management in the chemical and fiber industries.
"With his outstanding experience in major industrial groups and international markets, Mr. Krishnan is a valuable addition to the management of Horizon Pulp & Paper and we are delighted to have, with him, an accomplished industry leader on board," said Sonny Aswani, director of Estonian operations of Tolaram Group, the owner of the company.
"It is an honor to join the team of Horizon Pulp & Paper. The company’s medium-term objective is to considerably increase its competitiveness with implementation of a large-scale investment program in the coming years. This will also help to expand and strengthen the company’s client base, currently covering more than 55 countries worldwide," Krishnan said.
In 2012 Horizon launched a new Superbatch technology pulp mill as a part of a EUR 55 million investment program, and at the end of this year a new lime kiln will become operational, enabling the company to recycle more than 90% of lime used in the pulp mill production. This year, Horizon ordered a wood processing line to be supplied by Andritz, Graz, Austria. The processing line will become operational by mid-2014.
Horizon Pulp & Paper is Estonia’s only sack kraft paper producer. A subsidiary of the Singapore-headquartered international industry group Tolaram, Horizon has substantially modernized its production facilities with a total investment of approximately EUR 90 million during the past 15 years, with some EUR 40 million of that being used to reduce emissions. During the first three quarters of this year, the company recorded sales of EUR 38.4 million and an operating profit of EUR 4.7 million.
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