STORA ENSO OYJ INVESTOR NEWS 31 May
2019 at 12.15 EEST
HELSINKI, May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders of
Bergvik Skog AB, a Swedish forest holding company, have finalised
the previously announced restructuring of its ownership. Stora
Enso's forest holdings in Sweden
will increase to 1.4 million hectares, of which 1.15 million
hectares is productive forest land. Prior to the transaction, Stora
Enso's indirect share of Bergvik Skog's productive forest land was
936 thousand hectares.
"I am very pleased that we have successfully finalised the
restructuring of Bergvik Skog with the other shareholders. This
transaction is a natural next step for us, as we strongly believe
in the bioeconomy and want to secure our competitive raw material
supply for the long term. The direct ownership gives us better
opportunities to further develop sustainable forest management,
thus strengthening our competitiveness," says Stora Enso's CEO
Karl-Henrik Sundström
.
As part of the transaction, Stora Enso acquires Bergvik Skog
Plantor AB nursery and three wind turbine projects. This will
further strengthen the Group's comprehensive offering to forest
owners in Sweden and is in line
with its commitment to sustainable forestry.
The financial impact of the restructuring for Stora Enso will be
as follows:
- Bergvik Skog was previously reported as an equity accounted
investment. Upon completion of the restructuring, Stora Enso's
Swedish forest assets are placed in a fully owned subsidiary and
consolidated line by line in Stora Enso's results in segment Other
from 1 June 2019 onwards.
- The transaction results in an increase of approximately
EUR 1.0 billion in Stora Enso's
interest-bearing net debt and the net debt to EBITDA ratio will
increase by approximately 0.5x once all the transaction steps have
been finalised by the end of 2019.
- The net debt to EBITDA ratio was 1.7x at the end of the first
quarter of 2019. The ratio will exceed the strategic target level
of 2.0x temporarily during the second half of 2019 before all the
steps of the transaction have been finalised.
- Capital employed increased by approximately EUR 1.0 billion, resulting in a decrease in the
operational return on capital employed (ROCE) of approximately 1
percentage point.
Links to the previous releases about the Bergvik Skog
transaction:
- 30 November 2018: Stora
Enso signs agreement to acquire forest assets in Bergvik Skog
- 13 November 2018: Stora
Enso's forest associate Bergvik Skog sells forestland in
Latvia and increases fair values
of biological assets
- 27 November 2017: Stora
Enso announces intent to acquire forest assets in conjunction with
planned structural changes in Bergvik Skog AB
For further information, please contact:
Ulrika Lilja
EVP, Communications
tel. +46-72-221-9228
Investor enquiries:
Ulla
Paajanen
SVP, Investor Relations
tel. +358-40-763-8767
Part of the bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading global provider
of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden
constructions and paper. We believe that everything that is made
from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow.
Stora Enso has some 26 000 employees in over 30 countries. Our
sales in 2018 were EUR 10.5 billion.
Stora Enso shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and
Nasdaq Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded
in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY).
storaenso.com
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