Sylvamo completes acquisition of the Nymölla mill in Sweden

Sylvamo, the US-based global producer of uncoated paper, has completed its acquisition of the Nymölla paper mill in Sweden from Stora Enso.

The deal, valued at about €150 million, adds two pulp lines and two paper machines with yearly capacity for about 485,000 tonnes of woodfree uncoated office papers to Sylvamo’s portfolio. The mill generates 85 per cent of its energy needs from carbon-neutral, renewable biomass residuals.

Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Sylvamo has annual sales of about US$3.5 billion. It has two mills in North America, in New York State and South Carolina, three mills in South America, in Mato Grosso do Sul, Mogi Guaço and São Paulo, and one each in France, Poland and Sweden.

Stora Enso said last year that the Nymölla deal was part of its plan to divest four of its five paper mills to concentrate on renewable products in packaging, building and biomaterials. That plan has changed with Stora Enso now saying that it will not divest its

Anjala mill. But it has agreed to sell its Hylte paper mill to Sweden Timber, a sawmill and planing company, for about €18m.

The transaction does not affect Stora Enso’s Packaging Solutions division’s formed fibre and biocomposite operations located at the Hylte site.

The Anjala paper mill and the retained Langerbrugge paper mill in Belgium were integrated into Packaging Materials division at the beginning of 2023. At the Langerbrugge site, a feasibility study for a potential conversion said: “We live by our approach of using paper where possible, plastic when useful and our range of FunctionalBarrier Paper is a perfect example of this. This is in line with our Mondi Action Plan 2030 commitment to make all our packaging solutions reusable, recyclable and compostable.”

Mondi won eight awards in five categories at this year’s WorldStar Global Packaging Awards.

The company has also started production of kraft paper bags at its new €16 million greenfield plant in Morocco, which can produce 100 million items a year. Mondi’s total capacity in West Africa is now more than 500 million bags a year. The Morocco plant is Mondi’s fourth site in West Africa (in addition to two plants in Morocco and one in Ivory Coast).