EC approves Polyedra acquisition by Lecta

Coated woodfree paper producer Lecta has received EC approval for the acquisition of Paperlinx' subsidiary Polyedra in Italy and Switzerland. The deal is a key element of Paperlinx' current corporate strategy.

The European Commission (EC) has announced it has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of the Italian paper merchant Polyedra by Lecta. An agreement had already been reached by Lecta Group and Polyedra's Australian parent company Paperlinx in March this year. The purchase price was put at €45m.

For Paperlinx, the sale of its Italian subsidiary represents a key element of its current corporate strategy which the company adopted in response to its disappointing financial results for the first half of the business year 2012, ended 31 December 2011. Paperlinx aims at cutting costs and simplifying business structures in Continental Europe and Corporate Head Office and needs additional liquidity to execute this new strategy.

Lecta Group is represented in Italy by its subsidiary Cartiere del Garda. Lecta operates a total of 13 paper machines at nine sites in France, Italy and Spain to produce over 2 million tpy of coated woodfree and specialty papers.

Polyedra is a paper merchant operating in the print, office, packaging and Signs & Displays sectors. The company annually distributes around 200,000 t of paper to its 15,000 customers.

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