Prinzhorn Group has signed an agreement to purchase 50% shares of Russian packaging, paper and recycling group SFT Group.

The family owned and vertically integrated SFT Group has an annual production capacity of 500 million m2 of corrugated packaging, 450,000 metric tons of containerboard and 550,000 metric tons of paper for recycling. All SFT Groups production sites with a total staff of 1,700 people are located in the Central, North-West and Southern Federal Districts.

The core production sites include Kamenskaya Paper & Board Mill, Aleksinskaya Paper & Board Mill, Kartontara in Maykop and Famadar Cartona in Taganrog, all leading producers of containerboard and corrugated packaging solutions.

The group started its expansion in 2003 and is now Russian market leader in all three business areas. 

"This strong joint-venture brings together long-term focus, market know-how and technical expertise. Our customers can benefit from our improved recycling, paper and packaging solutions." said Cord Prinzhorn, CEO of Prinzhorn Group.

"With a similar and fully integrated setup like Prinzhorn Group, we see a lot of opportunities to grow our businesses together and faster. I strongly believe that we will experience a strong beneficial development within the near future", said Stepan Khomyakov CEO of SFT Group. 

SFT will continue to operate under its current name.

The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant authorities. Both parties agreed not to disclose the transaction value.