Forestum has an Estonian subsidiary which owns 10,300 hectares of land on the islands of Dagö and Ösel. 8,800 hectares of this land is forest land with a standing volume of 1,300,000 cubic metres.

SCA recently acquired 10,000 hectares of forest in Latvia.

"We have the intention to grow as a forest owner in the Baltics", said Jonas Mårtensson, President Forest."The Baltic states are a natural part of our raw material supply base and we have been present in the market for a long time as a buyer of timber. Having our own forest resource strengthens our operations in the region."

On June 3 SCA acquired 93% of the shares in Forestum Group AB from the major owners of the company and will now offer to buy the remaining shares from the minority owners. The sum SEK 420 million refers to the purchase price on a debt free basis for 100 per cent of the shares.