SCA IS INTRODUCING A NEW HIGH BULK PAPER FOR WEB OFFSET applications that it claims will match more expensive paper grades for experience and performance. It is pitching the “super bright bulky paper” above SC grades and below LWC in terms of price
GraphoInvent has been developed as part of a £30 million upgrade to the Ortviken mill in Sweden which has led to a rebuild of PM5 and increased capacity to produce high white pulp. It is a move upmarket which is in line with the strategic direction that SCA is taking. The mill is also improving capacity to produce improved newsprint.
THIS FOLLOWS SWIFTLY BEHIND THE SALE OF ITS 50% share in the Aylesford newsprint mill near Maidstone this month. This was sold for a symbolic amount to The Martland Holdings. The US investment group has also bought the 50% that belonged to Mondi. According to SCA the mill, which has a capacity to produce 400,000tpa of newsprint from recovered fibre, has been loss making for several years. In 2011, sales were approximately £150 million.
Ahead of the sale, Aylesford Newsprint was recapitalised to leave a business with no debt. “Aylesford’s high-quality asset base, its unique industrial know-how combined with a strong balance sheet with no financial debt and an improved operating structure will represent key assets for the future.”, said Landry Kouakou, executive director at The Martland Holdings. The investment group says it intends to be a long-term investor.
AYLESFORD NEWSPRINT IS THE COMPANY’S FIRST ACQUISITION though its board has experience in private equity dealings and in the paper industry. Kouakou himself worked for Platinum Equity which now owns Quark and Contego among others investments.
The sale of the UK business follows SCA’s sale of its packaging division to David S Smith, a deal which was completed at the end of June and the acquisition of Georgia-Pacific’s tissue business in Europe.
The new SCA paper comes in 54, 57, 60, 65 and 70gsm weights, with the bulk to give it the feel of a higher grammage LWC paper. At the same time SCA is extending the range of LWCs with GraphoSilk, a silk finish LWC available as 75, 80 and 90gsm. The paper is produced from 100% virgin fibre and carries PEFC and FSC certificates.
THE LOWER WEIGHT OF THE PAPER WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON postage costs and on the associated carbon footprint. Marketing director Rolf Johannesson says: “The investment will also strengthen SCA’s position as a pioneer for the environment.” Excess heat from the mill is piped to 5,000 nearby houses. Power comes from renewable biomass resources.
SCA reckons that the market for these grades of paper in Europe is stable with overall European printed paper consumption at 40 million tonnes a year. SCA has capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, of which 880,000 tonnes comes from the Ortviken mill.
