Buyer of Norske Skog may be known in March

Norske Skog Newpaper Paper MillDecline in sales of Paper. Newpaper roll. Photo: Pixabay.com

Buyer of Norske Skog may be revealed in March

The deadline for submitting tenders for Norske Skog’s paper mills expired on Monday this week. Several have shown their interest to buy the assets of Norske Skog, and the final buyer is expected to be announced during this month.

 

– We are relatively satisfied with the interest, says chairman of the board of Norske Skog AS, Sven Ombudstvedt, to E24.

It has been known in advance that between five and ten actors had expressed their interest, and according to Ombudstvedt, there are both industrial and financial players among them. He expects to be able to present a deal in a couple of weeks.

This is confirmed by CEO Lars Sperre that informs Dagens Næringsliv that the sale of the paper mills are going according to plan.

– We expect that the final negotiations in the auction process will be concluded in the next few weeks, and that by the end of March there will be something communicated to the public about who the new owner is going to be, says Sperre.

Citibank and Evercore facilitate

The investment banks Citibank and Evercore facilitate the sale of the factories on behalf of Norske Skog.

In December of last year, The board of directors of Norske Skog gave up the attempt to rescue the group and filed for bankruptcy proceedings to be initiated in the courts. The company then had a debt of more than NOK 9.2 billion and booked values of close to NOK 2.9 billion.

Property owners have previously stated that it is not likely that a sale of the mills, which still operates with profit, will be able to bring any funds back into the estate as the burden of the debt is too immense. Investor and forrest owner, Christen Sveaas, is among the biggest losers in the bankruptcy as the biggest single shareholder.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today