SCA Extends Offer for GP’s European Tissue Operations

The Swedish paper company SCA has made an offer to acquire Georgia-Pacific´s European tissue operations for $1.8 billion. GP’s European operations had sales of EUR 1.25 billion (US$1.7 billion) last year.

Jan Johansson, SCA president and CEO, says, “The deal is a strategic fit and will strengthen our product offering and geographic reach in Europe. It also leads to substantial synergies.”

In documents supporting the proposed acquisition, SCA say combining SCA and GP’s European tissue operations would give the company a 35 percent share of the European consumer tissue market and a 30 percent share of the away-from-home tissue market.

Georgia-Pacific’s European tissue operations have approximately 5,000 employees and 15 production sites in seven countries. Total capacity of GP’s European tissue business is close to 670,000 metric tons per year.