Canadian Kruger to acquire up to 12% in Colombian Papeles Nacionales

Sep 07, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. Canadian forestry group Kruger Inc. plans to acquire up to a 12% stake in Colombian paper mills Papeles Nacionales, it was reported on September 6, 2005. Kruger plans to acquire the stake through its subsidiary Grand Bay International (GBI). GBI is headquartered in Aruba. GBI is expected to acquire at least 21,900,000 shares of Papeles Nacionales, which will represent a stake of 9.0%. The price of one share is seen at COP125 ($0.055). In this way, GBI is expected to pay between COP2.745 billion ($1.2 million) and COP3.675 billion ($1.61 million) in order to acquire the stake. The sales of Papeles Nacionales stand on average at COP65 billion ($28.45 million) annually in the last few years and the company has at present a share of 3.7% on the Colombian paper market, where the other most important players are Carton de Colombia, Propal, Colpapel, Familia and Bico. Kruger employs a total 10,500 in Canada, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Peru.