FINLAND (News release) -- UPM has permanently closed paper production at its Shotton newsprint mill site in North Wales, United Kingdom. The site and all related assets will now be transferred to Eren Paper Ltd, a subsidiary of Modern Karton Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş., the containerboard and corrugated packaging business of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Eren Holding ("Eren"), thereby closing the transaction announced in May 2021. Eren will now start working on the conversion of the site.

The Renewable Energy Generation plant, the Material Recovery and the Recycling Facility (MRRF) will continue operations throughout the conversion process, as communicated by Eren, corresponding to their role in the regional utility infrastructure.

UPM Shotton was founded in 1983 and has been producing newsprint paper. Production capacity during the last years was 260,000 tonnes annually. The paper mill currently employs 183 people directly and an additional 231 in the site's Material Recovery and the Recycling Facility and other service operations.

UPM Communication Papers will remain committed to the UK and continue supplying customers with the full portfolio of newsprint, magazine and fine paper grades. UPM will also continue its sourcing recycled paper from the UK.

"The closing of the newsprint paper production at UPM Shotton ends a very successful chapter of UPM Communication Papers' history in the United Kingdom. I want to thank our colleagues at the site for their committed and professional work over the past decades. The strong support by the local authorities has been critical for the success of Shotton as was the loyalty of our customers" says Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President UPM Communication Papers.

"I am therefore very happy that the upcoming transformation of the mill will provide a very positive long-term perspective for the people at Shotton and for the region as such. The transparent and reliable collaboration with Eren over the past months is a very solid foundation for this future development. It is important to highlight, that UPM Communication Papers will remain firmly rooted as a paper supplier in the United Kingdom going forward" Schaur continues.