Mondi sells European paper merchant for €60m

Paper and packaging group Mondi would sell its Europapier business to Austrian paper and pulp manufacturer the Heinzel Group for €60-million in cash, it announced on Wednesday.

The JSE- and LSE-listed Mondi noted that the proceeds of the sale would be used to reduce its net debt.

“This is an important step which allows us to increase the focus on our core business while also creating the opportunity for Europapier to position itself as a fully independent paper merchant in the future,” commented Mondi CEO David Hathorn.

Europapier is a paper merchant business selling graphic, packaging and office papers, as well as other office supplies to customers across central Europe and Russia.

It had significant market shares in Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Mondi noted that the business had recorded a pretax loss of €6,5-million in the 2009 financial year.

Further, it expected to incur a loss on disposal of about €25-million.