Georgia-Pacific continues to expand its corrugated packaging business with the acquisition of Ohio-based PAX Corrugated Products. PAX operates a corrugated sheet plant with more than 100 employees in Lebanon, Ohio. Terms of the deal are not disclosed. “Georgia-Pacific has had a working relationship with PAX Corrugated for many years so we knew their organization would be an excellent fit with the GP Corrugated team,” said Billy Medof, president – GP Corrugated. “The PAX team will continue to deliver quality products and service to their customers as they do today. Their graphics and converting proficiency will accelerate our growth in digitally printed sheets from our Digital Print Solutions business and their display capability will expand our growing display business.”

Neenah, Inc. announced that it had completed the previously announced agreement to acquire Global Release Liners, S.L., the parent company of Industrias de Transformacion de Andoain, S.A. (“ITASA”), from Magnum Capital and other minority shareholders. The Company funded the purchase price of approximately €205 million, inclusive of debt extinguishment and subject to customary closing adjustments, through available cash-on-hand and an upsizing of Neenah’s existing Term Loan B from $200 million to $450 million. Interest rates on the Term Loan B are variable and are currently at 3.5 percent. Neenah will continue to maintain a strong liquidity position, with ample availability under its revolving credit line and a projected debt to EBITDA of approximately three times after closing the transaction.

As a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the geopolitical situation in Europe has permanently changed. This has wide-reaching human, political and economic implications in Europe and the situation is evolving rapidly. Our primary concern are the people suffering from the war. UPM is providing support to its employees in the affected areas. We have also started providing humanitarian and material support to Ukraine this week. UPM will cease its deliveries to Russia for the time being. UPM businesses will keep the Russian customers and suppliers informed of the situation. While the forest industry is not directly targeted by the international sanctions at the moment, sanctions against the financial sector may impact UPM’s or its customers’ businesses and transactions in Russia. The full impact of the current and possible new sanctions and counter-sanctions will be known only as the situation evolves. UPM monitors the situation closely and makes decisions accordingly. UPM has employees, customers and suppliers in both countries but UPM’s exposure to Russian and Ukranian markets is limited. UPM Raflatac has a distribution terminal in the Kyiv region with 13 employees. The terminal operations have been closed until further notice. In Russia, UPM employs 800 persons most of whom work at the Chudovo plywood mill. The operations are currently running as usual. UPM’s sales to Russia and Ukraine combined was approximately 2 % of UPM’s total sales in 2021. Assets in Russia are less than 1 % of the group total. In 2021, less than 10 % of UPM’s wood sourcing to Finland originated from Russia.