Stora Enso sells German newsprint mill to Swiss firm

Finland-based Stora Enso says it has signed an agreement to sell its Sachsen Mill located in Eilenburg, Germany, to the Switzerland-based family-owned company Model Group. The mill has an annual production capacity of 310 000 metric tons and makes newsprint and specialty paper based on recovered fiber feedstock.

Under the agreement, Model Group will own and operate Sachsen Mill after the transaction is closed, while Stora Enso will continue to sell and distribute the mill’s products under a contract manufacturing agreement for a period of 18 months after the closing. After that period, Model will convert the mill to the production of containerboard, according to Stora Enso.

“We believe Model will be a good owner to ensure long-term development of the Sachsen Mill,” says Kati ter Horst, an executive vice president with Stora Enso’s paper division. “We will continue to serve our customers with high-quality paper products from Sachsen Mill at least until the end of 2022.”

Model is paying €35 million ($42.7 million) for the mill and will retain the 230 employees, according to Stora Enso.

Model Group and Model Holding AG describe themselves as a 100 percent family-owned company founded in 1882. The firm says it “develops, produces and delivers innovative packaging solutions using cardboard and corrugated board.” The company has nine corrugating production plants in Europe, and currently produces containerboard paper at mills in Weinfelden and Niedergösgen, Switzerland.