Viken Skog bids for Norske Skog's Follum paper mill

Viken Skog, Norway's largest forest owner cooperative and one of the principle shareholders in Norske Skog, is interested in buying Norske Skog's Follum paper mill. Viken Skog says it has placed an offer to acquire the Follum mill in Hoenefoss for NOK 280m on a debt-free basis. Norske Skog responded that the bid was not realistic and that there was a big price distance to its own calculations, according to Viken Skog's CEO, Ragnhild Borchgrevink.
The Follum mill runs two paper machines and offers a total capacity of 280,000 tpy of improved newsprint, bookpaper and coated magazine paper. Viken Skog says its plan for the Follum paper mill is to develop the site into a forest fibre-based industry cluster with paper as one of several products manufactured.