Ahlstrom Corp. signed an agreement to combine
its Label and Processing business area with Munksjö AB to form a global leader
in specialty papers through two partial divestitures: one consisting of the
Label and Processing operations in Europe (LP Europe) and one in Brazil (Coated
Specialties).
The new company will be called Munksjö Corp.
(in Finnish Munksjö Oyj) and its shares will be listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.
The transaction enables Ahlstrom to focus exclusively on its value-added
business areas: Building and Energy, Filtration and Food and Medical.
Meanwhile, the Label and Processing business area can be further developed
together with Munksjö.
"During the past three years, Ahlstrom
has systematically executed its strategy towards becoming a focused high
performance materials company. This transaction of combining the Label and
Processing business area with Munksjö is the most significant step in our
strategy execution. It allows us to concentrate our resources to the areas
where we see the most attractive value-add and growth opportunities," says
Jan Lång, President and CEO of Ahlstrom.
"The essence of our strategy is that our
high performance materials protect people, purify air and liquids and provide
surface and structure to our customers' products. In addition to reinforcing
our global leadership in Filtration, we seek growth opportunities in high
performance materials for building, food packaging and medical
applications," Lång continues.
"We expect this transaction to enhance
value for Ahlstrom's shareholders through ownership in two focused publicly
listed companies that are global leaders in their respective fields,"
concludes Lång.
