Metsä Tissue Corporation

Katrinefors Kraftvärme AB (KKAB), a 50/50 joint venture owned by Metsä Tissue, part of Metsä Group, and the local municipal energy company VänerEnergi AB, will build a new biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Mariestad, Sweden, in conjunction with the Metsä Tissue mill. This will be the second bioenergy plant operated by KKAB.

The construction of the new plant will start in April 2013. The plant is expected to be operating by the end of 2014. The total investment will amount to approximately 30 million euros of which Metsä Tissue’s share will be 50 per cent.

According to Mark Watkins, SVP Tissue Scandinavia, KKAB’s new bioenergy plant is an important step in increasing the share of bioenergy. In Metsä Group, the share of wood-based bioenergy is high, as over 80 per cent of all the used fuel is biomass.

Increasing the share of bioenergy is one of the key activities in Metsä Group’s efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce fossil CO2 emissions. Metsä Group’s target is to reduce fossil-based CO2 emissions by 30 per cent per product tonne by 2020 from the 2009 level.

The new bioenergy production reduces significantly, even as much as 90 per cent, Metsä Tissue Mariestad mill’s oil usage. The new power plant will decrease Mariestad mill’s CO2 emissions by approximately 6,000 tonnes, i.e. by 30 per cent from the present. Currently oil is used to cover wintertime peak in heat demand and as reserve fuel.

The new biomass CHP plant will be composed of an approximately 28 MW biomass boiler to produce heat and approximately 7 MW turbine to produce electricity. The biomass fuels consist of energy wood and the mill’s recycled fibre residues.

In addition to producing electricity and heat to Mariestad mill, the plant will provide renewable energy for the surrounding community in the form of district heating and bio-based grid electricity.


METSÄ GROUP
Group Communications

For further information, please contact:
Mark Watkins, SVP Tissue Scandinavia, Metsä Tissue, tel. + 46 50 127 5012
Ilkka Latvala, SVP Energy, Metsä Group, tel. +358 50 381 9353


www.metsagroup.com

Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products are part of people’s everyday life and promote sustainable well-being. Metsä Group produces high-quality products mainly from renewable Nordic wood. The Group’s business areas are tissue and cooking papers, board and paper, pulp, wood products as well as wood supply. Metsä Group’s sales totalled EUR 5.0 billion in 2012, and it employs approximately 11,500 people. The Group is present in some 30 countries.


www.metsatissue.com

With its high-quality tissue and cooking papers, Metsä Tissue makes life more comfortable for consumers, customers and end-users every day. Metsä Tissue is a leading tissue paper products supplier to households and industrial consumers in Europe. We are also the world’s leading supplier of baking and cooking papers. Our main brands are Lambi, Serla, Mola, Tento, Katrin and SAGA. With production units in six countries, we employ a total of about 3,300 people. Our turnover in 2012 was EUR 1,0 billion euros. Metsä Tissue is part of Metsä Group.

Espoo, Finland, 2011-06-22 11:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metsä Tissue, part of the Metsäliitto Group and a leading tissue and cooking paper supplier Europe-wide, and Georgia-Pacific ZAO, part of Georgia-Pacific LLC a leading producer of tissue, paper, packaging and building products, have announced an exclusive agreement under which Metsä Tissue would obtain the license to manufacture, sell and market Georgia-Pacific’s Lotus® consumer tissue brand in Russia.

On top of the signed license contract, Metsä Tissue will purchase a selected portion of the finished goods stock of Lotus® products in Russia.  Metsä Tissue will then commence the production and sale of well-known Lotus-brand products in Russia alongside its own consumer brands, Lambi and Mola. In 2010, Lotus consumer sales in Russia were around 20 million euros.

With the agreement, Georgia-Pacific will refocus its Russian business on the away-from-home market. Georgia-Pacific will continue to manufacture, sell and market its Lotus® consumer brand throughout the rest of the EMEA region.

The parties expect to close the deal at the end of the third quarter, after which Metsä Tissue will initiate Lotus® brand production and sales to Russian customers.

The agreement will strengthen Metsä Tissue’s position in the Russian consumer tissue market, making it the second-biggest supplier in the branded category. This complies with its announced intention to seek brand growth in Russia. “The deal is a natural progression of Metsä Tissue’s commitment to developing our business in Russia”, says Hannu Kottonen, CEO of Metsä Tissue.

Metsä Tissue entered the Russian market in 2004. Since then, the company has established two offices in the Moscow region and in 2008 launched consumer and away-from-home product converting operations in Naro Fominsk.

For further information, please contact:

Hannu Kottonen, CEO
Tel. +358 (0)10 46 54959
Email: hannu.kottonen@metsatissue.com

Kari Muttilainen, SVP, Strategic Projects
Tel: + 358 (0)10 46 94563
Email: kari.muttilainen@metsatissue.com

Marja-Leena Dahlskog, Communications Manager
Tel. +358 (0)10 46 55149
Email: marja-leena.dahlskog@metsatissue.com

Metsä Tissue is a leading tissue paper products supplier to households and industrial consumers in Europe. We are also the world’s leading supplier of baking and cooking paper products. Our main brands are Lambi, Serla, Mola, Tento, Katrin and SAGA. We have production units based in Finland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden and we have some 3,200 employees. Our turnover is EUR 940 million. Metsä Tissue is part of the Metsäliitto Group.