The Austrian packaging and cartonboard group Mayr-Melnhof (MM) wants to acquire the Finnish Kotkamills. Kotkamills' main shareholder, the private investment company MB funds, and MM have just signed a deed of sale of the entire share capital of Kotkamills for an enterprise value of approximately EUR 425 million, which represents 7.8 times Kotkamills' earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Kotkamills, whose production is 100% virgin fibre-based, operates two paper machines at its integrated paper mill in Kotka in southern Finland: a board machine with a production capacity of 400?000 tonnes, which currently produces 260?000 tonnes of virgin fibre board (VBB) and food packaging board (FSB), and a saturated kraft paper machine with a capacity of 170?000 tonnes, which the company sells worldwide. The Finnish group, which employs around 500 people, generates a turnover of around EUR 380 million and an EBITDA of around EUR 55 million.
"Kotkamills is an ideal complement to our existing cardboard business", says Peter Oswald, CEO of the MM Group. With 10,000 employees, MM, consisting of MM Karton and MM Packaging, achieves a turnover of 2.5 billion euros, 80% of which is made from recycled fibres. MM Karton (38% of the group's turnover) has six cardboard production plants in Europe with an annual capacity of 1.7 million tonnes.
"Kotkamills reinforces MM's business model as a specialist producer of corrugated and solid board, especially virgin fibre board which has good growth potential."
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2021.
