Alma cut-size Announcement

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. and Tembec Inc. announced that they have received notification of clearance from Germany's Federal Cartel Office in connection with the previously announced proposed statutory arrangement under Section 192 of the Canada Business Corporations Act involving the acquisition by Rayonier AM of all of the outstanding shares of Tembec. Subject to obtaining the approvals of the holders of Tembec Shares and the Québec Superior Court and other necessary approvals and clearances, as well as the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to the Transaction, it is expected that the Transaction will be completed by the end of 2017.

Crown van Gelder will start selling paper made with sugar beet in January 2021. This makes the Dutch paper manufacturer the first in the world to produce 'sugar beet paper' at an industrial level. The new product line called 'Crown Native' uses less wood fibres to achieve a reduced impact on the environment of 16% compared to traditional paper. Crown Native was developed with the Dutch agricultural cooperative Royal Cosun as a strategic partner. The agricultural process residue from Cosun's production process, beet pulp, forms a valuable resource for the paper. With Crown Native, Crown Van Gelder has succeeded in creating paper made out of 20% beet pulp, thus achieving environmental gains in several areas. Due to the local sourcing, far less transport is required. As a result, Crown Native realises a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and particulate matter formation. Moreover, by using beet pulp, the production process requires less water. 'And because we're using a residual source, no additional agricultural land is needed,' Dronkers adds. A big advantage of using sugar beet pulp is that it is FDA compliant. 'The pulp is classified as a former food product,' Dronkers explains. As a result, Crown Native is approved and suitable for food packaging, unlike recycled paper for example. Dronkers: ‘This makes our sugar beet paper the ideal choice for product packaging, but also for shopping bags and promotional print. Crown Native is the perfect fit for brands with a sustainability ambition.’

UPM has completed the employee consultation process started in October on its plans to improve efficiency in global functions. UPM increases efficiency of its global functions by reorganising and streamlining the functions’ operations in five countries. This will decrease the number of positions in the functions by 67, of which 46 in Finland. UPM has also concluded the consultations regarding the reorganisation and restructuring at the Finnish pulp mills and UPM Forest that were announced in August. The consultations led to a reduction of 80 jobs in the Finnish pulp operations and 55 in UPM Forest.