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Stora Enso to Sell its Moelndal Mill to KLIPPAN of Sweden

Press release from the issuing company

HELSINKI, Finland, March 21 Stora Enso today announced that Stora Enso is selling its Moelndal Mill to KLIPPAN AB, a Swedish listed specialty paper company. This divestment is part of the Fine Paper division's asset restructuring programme to concentrate investment in large, cost-efficient mills. Accordingly, Stora Enso has for some time been seeking a buyer with a product range matching the Moelndal Mill's high quality range of graphic specialty papers. The buyer, KLIPPAN AB, is considered the ideal fit for Moelndal's product range. The total value of the transaction is about EUR 25 million, comprising EUR 8 million for the shares in the company Stora Enso Moelndal AB and the balance for taking on the company's debt. Including the co-ordinated sale of land close to the mill to a third party, there will be no capital gain or loss on the sale, which is expected to be completed on 2 April 2002. Moelndal's net annual fine paper production capacity with the current product range is some 80,000 tonnes (50,000 tonnes of multicoated fine paper and 30,000 tonnes of uncoated Colored and white paper). The mill also has some 40,000 tonnes per year of board sheeting capacity. The Moelndal Mill has some 400 employees, all of whom will be transferred to the new owner. Stora Enso Fine Paper is the world's second-largest producer of graphic papers and the sixth-largest producer of office papers. The main markets are Europe and North America. The product area has an annual production capacity of 3.8 million tonnes. Fine paper is used for document printing, commercial printing and high-quality books.