Suominen Corporation has signed an agreement with Ahlstrom Corporation to buy its Home and Personal wipes fabrics business area. Suominen will expand substantially through this acquisition and will become a global market leader in nonwoven roll goods for wipes.
The transaction, valued at some 170m, will be financed through a share issue and with debt. The largest current shareholders Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Tapiola Mutual Pension Insurance Company and the new shareholders Ahlstrom Corporation, Mandatum Life Insurance Company Ltd, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd have committed to subscribe altogether 80m for new shares in the share issue.
The acquired business develops and manufactures nonwoven roll goods for wipes for households and industry, and has manufacturing plants in North America, Italy, Spain and Brazil. In 2010 the acquired business generated net sales amounting to 291m and an operating profit of 6.1m. Some 480 people will be transferred to Suominen under the terms of the transaction.
This restructuring will create a new and formidable player in Finland one that is a pioneer in nonwovens and a global market leader, says Investment Director Heikki Vesterinen from Finnish Industry Investment.
The transaction is awaiting approval by competition authorities, which is expected by the end of October 2011.
For further information, please contact:
Juha Marjosola, President & CEO, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, tel. +358 9 6803 6811
Suominen produces high-quality flexible packaging, wet wipes and nonwovens for industry and the retail sector. The Group is one of Europes leading manufacturers in all its business areas, with operations in Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia. The Group had net sales of 173m in 2010 and it employs around 900 people. Suominen is listed on the NASDAQ OMX exchange in Helsinki. www.suominen.fi
Ahlstrom is a high-performance materials company, partnering with leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. Ahlstroms products are used in a large variety of everyday applications, such as filters, wallcovers, wipes, labels and food packaging. Ahlstrom has a leading market position in the sectors in which it operates. Ahlstroms 5,700 employees serve customers in 26 countries on six continents. In 2010, Ahlstrom’s net sales amounted to 1.9bn. The company’s share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX exchange in Helsinki. More information is available at www.ahlstrom.com.
Finnish Industry Investment Ltd is a government-owned investment company. Its mission is to promote Finnish business, job creation and economic growth through venture capital and private equity investments. Finnish Industry Investment invests in funds and directly in growth companies in all sectors. The investment focus is on growth, internationalisation, spin-offs, major industrial investments, as well as sectoral and corporate restructurings. Finnish Industry Investment invests together with private co-investors, limiting its investment to at most one-half of the invested capital and ownership. Finnish Industry Investment has over 670m of capital under management. www.industryinvestment.com