Stora Enso to Acquire Inpac International in China and India

Stora Enso, Finland, this week signed an agreement to acquire 51% of the Chinese packaging company Inpac International. Inpac is a packaging company with production operations in China and India, and service operations in Korea. It specializes in manufacturing consumer packaging, especially for global manufacturers of mobile phones and other consumer goods. The enterprise value of the company is EUR 82 million. In 2009 Inpac's sales were EUR 82 million, with an EBITDA of EUR 16 million.

"This joint venture is an important step on the path to our future, offering strong synergies with our existing Stora Enso consumer packaging businesses in Europe. This step supports our effort to become a market and consumer need driven renewable materials company - with access to the two fastest-growing consumer packaging markets globally," says Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen.

"We believe that this acquisition provides an excellent opportunity to enhance our presence in China and India, and strengthen our existing relationships with customers and brand owners by supplying packaging directly to them in these markets, as well as Europe," adds Mats Nordlander, Stora Enso EVP, Packaging and Asia Pacific.

"We are very pleased to be joining forces with Stora Enso. By combining our skills and knowledge through this partnership, we can continue to develop this packaging company further and serve global brand owners with innovative packaging solutions," notes Inpac Chairman Guo Cai.

Inpac's main production plants are at Qian'an in northern China, Dongguan in southern China and Chennai in India. The company has approximately 3,100 employees.

Stora Enso's annual operating profit is expected to be enhanced by EUR 11 million. The all-cash acquisition is expected to be closed within six months, subject to approval by regulatory and competition authorities, and other customary closing conditions.

TAPPI
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