“We are delighted to see the PEFC alliance grow further, even in these challenging times.” said Ben Gunneberg, following the acceptance of UPM. “It is a pleasure for me to welcome UPM into the family as our 31st international stakeholder member.” “On behalf of the company I would like to warmly thank the members for voting for our membership,” said Inka Musta, Senior Manager Global Forest Affairs, after the acceptance at the General Assembly. “UPM is one of the world’s leading forest industry companies. Our head office is in Helsinki, Finland, but we have operations all over the world. We have nearly 19,000 employees and production in 12 countries. Across our six business areas, we create renewable solutions that replace fossil-based materials,” she continued.

Sappi and UPM have today announced the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to form a non-listed, independent 50/50 Joint Venture for graphic paper. This Joint Venture will bring together Sappi’s European Graphic Paper business with UPM’s Communication Papers business in Europe, the UK and the US. Sappi and UPM will sell their respective businesses and assets mentioned below to the newly formed Joint Venture with a combined enterprise value of €1,420 million excluding the value of the expected synergy benefits. At closing the Joint Venture will raise debt to fund the purchase prices payable to Sappi and UPM respectively. The Joint Venture’s dividend policy will be to distribute all excess cash to its shareholders.   The Sappi business is valued at €320 million which, based on an FY2025 EBITDA of €64 million represents a 5x multiple. Sappi will transfer pension and other liabilities of €53 million and net assets valued at €267 million to the Joint Venture. In return Sappi will receive cash of €139 million and 50% shareholding in the Joint Venture.   The UPM business is valued at €1,100 million, which represents a 4.6x multiple of the last reported 12 months to September 2025 EBITDA. UPM will transfer pension and other liabilities of €360 million and net assets of €740 million to the Joint Venture. In return UPM will receive cash of €613 million and 50% shareholding in the Joint Venture.  Sappi will contribute the following assets: Gratkorn Mill (Austria); Ehingen Mill (Germany), Maastricht Mill (The Netherlands), and Kirkniemi Mill (Finland); as well as Sappi Europe’s wood supply Joint Ventures. UPM will contribute their Communication Papers business assets which are located at the following UPM mills: Augsburg (Germany), Schongau (Germany), Nordland paper lines 1 and 4  (Germany),  Rauma including UPM RaumaCell (Finland), Kymi (Finland), Jämsänkoski paper line 6 (Finland), Caledonian (United Kingdom), and Blandin (United States of America).

Metsä Group takes a big step forward in the development of Kuura and starts pre-engineering the first commercial Kuura textile fibre mill. Its purpose is to prepare for the industrial production of Kuura fibre. This is an important step in Metsä Group’s work to develop wood-based products of higher added value. The Kuura textile fibre is produced from softwood pulp, the raw material of which is sourced from Metsä Group’s Finnish owner-members’ forests. The pre-engineering of the Kuura mill is expected to continue until the summer of 2026. The project entity that has now started consists of four parts: pre-engineering of the first commercial mill, the development of the Kuura fibre production process, work done with customers to facilitate market entry. The application for an environmental permit is part of the factory's pre-engineering package. Kuura textile fibre is a new product developed by Metsä Group, in which Finnish wood is converted into a unique textile fibre with high added value – without fossil fuels.