UPM Announced Sale of Chapelle Darblay Newsprint Mill Site

The new buyers of the newsprint mill site plan to develop it into a centre of supply of green energy and production of raw materials using recycling techniques.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): UPM announced that it has reached an agreement with a consortium of two companies-Samfi and Paprec France SAS towards sale of its Chapelle Darblay newsprint mill site. The asset sale transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

According to company press release, the transaction involves only asset sale and that no personnel will be transferred as part of the deal. It must be noted that UPM had permanently stopped operations at the newsprint mill and had reached a deal with employees on a social plan for affected employees in June last year.

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The new buyers of the newsprint mill site plan to develop it into a centre of supply of green energy and production of raw materials using recycling techniques. In future, the site will house a renewable hydrogen production facility, biomass power generation facility and a sorting and packaging plant. The consortium plans to invest around 450 million euros, which in turn is expected to create 250 direct and 400 indirect jobs in the region.

Anu Ahola, Senior Vice President-Operations, UPM Communication Papers said that the company will remain committed to the French newsprint market and continue close collaboration with its French partners and customers.