Stora Enso finalizes the acquisition of Dutch corrugated packaging manufacturer De Jong Packaging Group on January 6. Announced last September, this external growth should be finalized early this year.
With the acquisition of this Dutch company with 17 production sites and 1,300 employees, the Finnish-Swedish group, which has a strong presence in Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, is expanding into the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and Belgium.
The acquisition complements Stora Enso's offering in particular in fresh products, e-commerce and industrial packaging and the group's total corrugated capacity will increase by 600 million m 2 reaching 2000 million, after the finalization of the Dutchman's projects.
"This acquisition advances Stora Enso's strategic direction by accelerating revenue growth and strengthening market share for renewable packaging in Europe." said Annica Bresky, President and CEO of Stora Enso.
In 2022, De Jong Packaging's sales are expected to approach EUR 1 billion and its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to EUR 114 million. By 2025, with the completion of expansion projects, EBITDA is expected to increase by EUR 40 million.
Within three years, Stora Enso, which has a turnover of 10.2 billion euros for 2021, expects to benefit from cost reductions of 30 million euros per year thanks to synergies mainly on sourcing, optimization of the integration of the cardboard and commercial opportunities.
