EU Commission approves M-real's sale of Map Merchant Group

Nordic Business Report, Oct 25, 2007

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-25 October 2007-EU Commission approves M-real's sale of Map Merchant Group(C)1994-2007 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Finnish forest industry group M-real Corporation, part of Metsaliitto Group, said on Thursday (25 October) said that the EU Commission has approved the sale of M-real's paper merchant Map Merchant Group to Antalis International SAS.

The company announced in July 2007 its intention to sell its subsidiary Map Merchant Holdings BV and all of its subsidiaries to Antalis International SAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sequana Capital.

The company said in July that the total enterprise value is worth EUR382m. M-real is estimated to make a gain of approximately EUR80m from the sale.

M-real and Antalis have also entered into a commercial agreement which ensures continuity for M-real's product sales through Antalis and Map sales network.

M-real Corporation, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is a European paper company with products for consumer packaging, communications and advertising. M-real generated a turnover of EUR5.6bn in 2006 and has 15,500 employees. The company is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Helsinki.

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