Sappi Concludes Agreement to Sell Its Lanaken Mill to UTB for EUR 50 Million

Sappi Lanaken Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill located in Belgium.

July 18, 2024 - Sappi on July 15 announced an agreement to sell its shuttered Lanaken pulp and paper mill to UTB Industrial Acquisitions ("UTB"), a privately-owned Dutch company that specializes in industrial property conversions.

Under the terms of the agreement, UTB will acquire all the shares in Sappi Lanaken N.V. including all its assets for a value of EUR 50 million, of which EUR 40 million will be paid in cash.

In November 2023, Sappi announced plans to reduce its production capacity of graphic paper in Europe, and initiated a consultation process to close the Lanaken mill, which produced coated woodfree paper. The consultation process was successfully concluded, and production at the mill ceased at the end of December 2023.

Following the successful closure of the mill, a process was initiated to sell the land and assets.

In a brief written statement, UTB said that it "has acquired the entire assets and 300,000 square meters of real estate. The assets include: paper machines, stock preparation, super calenders, roll slitters, BCTMP factory and logistics center."

Sappi said the transaction with UTB is unconditional and expected to close during October 2024.

Lanaken Mill

Sappi Lanaken Mill is an integrated pulp and paper mill located in Belgium, which employed 581 workers with a production capacity of 165,000 tonnes per year of pulp that the mill used to produce 530,000 tpy of coated woodfree paper, which was mainly sold into the European print market.

Sappi is a global diversified woodfiber company focused on providing dissolving pulp, specialities and packaging papers, printing and writing papers, as well as biomaterials and biochemicals to our direct and indirect customer base across more than 150 countries.

SOURCE: Sappi Limited and UTB