The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Sappi Finland I Oy and Sappi Finland Operations Oy, both of Finland, Sappi Maastricht Real Estate B.V. of the Netherlands, and Sappi Stockstadt GmbH of Germany, by Aurelius Investment Lux Seven S.à.r.l. of Luxembourg.
The Sappi entities are active in the manufacture and supply of paper and paper products in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. Aurelius is part of the Aurelius group and is active in global asset management and portfolio investments.
The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given that the companies are not active on the same or related markets. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
A global leader in dissolving pulp and paper-based solutions, Sappi Limited is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has over 12,000 employees; manufacturing facilities on three continents, in ten countries (ten operations in Europe, four operations in North America and five operations in South Africa) and customers in over 150 countries worldwide.
