Company says it remains committed to Chinese market but better serves it from Russia or US
US paper group International Paper announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with its Chinese coated board joint venture partner, Shandong Sun Holding Group Co., Ltd,. to sell its 55% equity interest in the joint venture (IP-Sun JV) for CNY49m (about $23m). The company said that it undertook a thorough review of its position in serving the Chinese and Asian markets and concluded it would be more effective supplying this region with globally competitive products primarily through its Ilim joint venture in Russia and from the US. However, international said it remained committed to serving these very important markets.
The IP-Sun JV has one manufacturing location in Shandong Province in China, which includes four paper machines and approximately 1.4 million annual metric tonnes of coated board capacity.
International Paper said it is also pursuing strategic options for its corrugated box business in China and South East Asia and has signed a non-binding letter of intent with a prospective buyer based in China. IP’s Industrial Packaging Asia business has 18 corrugated box plants in China and South East Asia and a workforce of about 3,000 employees.
