UPM buys APRIL's mill

UPM buys APRIL's mill

HELSINKI (Reuters): Finnish forest industry group UPM-Kymmene
will buy a Chinese fine paper mill from its Indonesian partner
Asia Pacific Resources Holding (APRIL), changing an earlier
cooperation deal, Finnish MTV3 television news reported
yesterday.

The television channel said that instead of swapping parts of
fine paper operations with APRIL, UPM would buy "a significant
part" of ARPIL's fine paper mill being built in China.

It said the mill is worth over two billion markka ($365
million).

In the broadcast, UPM chairman Lauri Jouhki neither confirmed
nor denied the report, but he said "the process is alive all the
time, and I believe decisions will come fairly soon."

Nobody at UPM-Kymmene was immediately available to comment on
the report.

UPM and APRIL agreed last September on a fine paper joint
venture which would include the swap of 30 percent of each their
fine paper operations, but the deal came under scrutiny after
Indonesia was hit by financial turmoil.