December 2008 - Powerflute acquires Scheufelen
Powerflute Oyj ("Powerflute"), a Finnish producer of paper for the corrugated board industry, has completed its acquisition of the assets of Papierfabrik Scheufelen GmbH & Co KG ("Scheufelen"). Total consideration for the property, plant and equipment was €20m, with a further anticipated investment of up to €30m in working capital. The acquisition has been financed through a combination of new term debt, factoring facilities and a share placing.
Scheufelen operates a paper mill in Germany producing coated wood free papers. The majority of Scheufelen's output is sold to commercial printers and paper merchants in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy. For the year ended 31 December 2007, Scheufelen delivered 285,000 tonnes of paper and achieved net sales of € 211 million (unaudited).
Lansdowne Capital acted as financial advisor to Powerflute on the acquisition and in particular advised on the successful refinancing of Powerflute’s existing debt in Finland, raising new senior debt to fund the purchase of Scheufelen, and raising non-recourse financing in Germany for Scheufelen. The total amount of new debt, refinanced debt, factoring facilities, and new equity raised was €94m. Lansdowne Capital achieved this success despite facing arguably the worst credit market conditions for a generation.
For additional information please contact:
Alan Dargan - Tel: +44 20 7514 1800
Jeremy Roberts - Tel: +44 20 7514 1807
