On 20 October Kimberly-Clark started a cash tender offer to purchase all
outstanding shares of common stock of I-Flow Corporation. On 9 October, the
companies announced a definitive agreement whereby Kimberly-Clark would acquire
I-Flow in a cash tender offer and subsequent merger for approximately $324
million on a fully diluted basis.
On 16 October Cellu Tissue Holdings announced that it has filed for an initial
public offering of shares of its common stock. The offered shares will include
shares to be sold by Cellu Tissue and shares to be sold by stockholders of
the company. The company intends to use the net proceeds it receives from the
offering to pay down debt. Goldman, Sachs and JP Morgan Securities are acting
as joint book running managers for the offering.
On 20 October 2009, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and the Indonesian Ecolabelling
Institute (Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia {LEI}) jointly held a seminar to officially
launch the world’s first LEI-certified paper in the Japanese market. This launch
followed the 8 September 2009 joint announcement by APP and LEI that five of
APP’s pulp and paper mills have successfully achieved Chain-of-Custody (CoC)
certification under the LEI certification program. The certification process
covered APP’s entire product range, from pulp and tissue to various kinds of
converted paper products, and was conducted by TUV International Indonesia
between April and July 2009. APP will roll out the new LEI certified paper
near the end of the year and plans for it to account for 10% of total paper
production capacity. Initial focus will be on the Asian market. The production
ratio will be gradually increased, with APP pulp mills’ ultimate target being
to have 100% LEI-certified pulpwood supply.
On 7 October, Tork®, an SCA Tissue North America brand, announced at ISSA
in Chicago that the company has formed the Tork Green Hygiene Council (TGHC).
The panel of four experts will provide perspective and advice on how to create
sustainable and healthy environments, both at work and home. “The TGHC showcases
Tork’s ongoing commitment to providing green and hygienic public washroom solutions
for businesses and their customers,” said Cindy Stilp, director of marketing
and communications at SCA Tissue North America.
Futura SpA has finalized its latest investment in the North American tissue
market with a new service centre that opened at the beginning of November 2009.
To guarantee its ProCare service commitment to an expanding customer base in
the region, Futura has decided to enhance its existing North American engineering
and customer care operation, headed by Justen Smith, with a fully-equipped
engineering and spare-parts facility in Alpharetta, a short distance out of
Atlanta, Georgia. The sales and marketing team led by Christian Viviers will
also be based at the new facility.
ABB has announced that it will be building a new factory for its Quality
Control Systems (QCS) for pulp and paper in Shanghai, China. This new facility
will result in the transfer of about 60 jobs from an existing plant in Dundalk,
Ireland, to the new facility. The R&D, product support and marketing functions
will remain in Dundalk. The QCS business is part of ABB’s Process Automation
Division, Pulp and Paper Business Unit. According to Roger Bailey, global manager
of ABB’s Pulp and Paper business, the decision to locate the new factory in
Shanghai was based on ABB’s continuing strategy to align its footprint with
the market demand. “Most new paper machines are being built in Asia, and to
better support this demand, we needed to invest in the region.”
Teuvo Salminen, Deputy to the President and CEO of Pöyry PLC, will at his
own request step aside from his present position at the beginning of
2010. At the same time, his membership in the Group Executive Committee will
end. However, he has committed himself to continuing, at least until the end
of 2010, as a part time adviser to ensure a smooth transition and knowledge
transfer. The reassignment of his current responsibility areas will be announced
in due course.
Metsä Tissue’s Katrin has released new dispenser designs Silver and White,
which are designed to draw attention in hotels and conference centres, top
restaurants and night clubs, spas and trade centres. Combined with the existing
Grey design, the new designs make Katrin’s dispenser range "complete to
serve any washroom needs in the market", the company says.
Kimberly-Clark has appointed Kim Underhill Vice President, UK & Ireland,
effective September. She reports to Giles Turrell, President of Consumer Europe.
Underhill formerly headed North American Group Brands. In this position she
led Kimberly- Clark's North American tissue business. In 2006 she was appointed
President of Family Care Marketing, North America and took over the role of
business operations and marketing development for the nearly $4 billion dollar
North American Family Care business.
Ryno Rollers has announced that United Line Rollers of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
is the latest company licensed to produce rollers using Ryno® roller compounds.
As an authorized Ryno Rollers compound licensee, United Line Rollers will produce
the popular Ryno®, HydroMetric®, and Web Red® rollers for the Gulf States market.
Elsner Engineering Works, based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, USA, has announced
that Calder Packaging Machinery, located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England,
has recently been appointed as contract field service office for Elsner’s UK
and European customer base. Calder Packaging Machinery is also Elsner’s sales
representative in the UK. Under their agreement, Calder Packaging Machinery
will be available on a contract basis to service Elsner converting and packaging
machinery throughout the UK and Europe. For the European market it replaces
a German office that has shut down.
SCA has once again been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes,
both in Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index and Dow Jones Sustainability WORLD
Index, which are two of the world’s most prestigious sustainability indexes.
SCA is one of only four Swedish companies listed in the two indexes.
Nalco, which provides essential expertise for water, energy and air, has
also been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for a second consecutive
year. Nalco’s 3D TRASAR® technology for cooling water saved 238 million m3
of water in 2008 and was recognized with a US Presidential Green Chemistry
Challenge Award. PARETO™ Technology for Wet-End Optimization saved papermakers
460 billion Btus of energy, eliminating more than 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions
last year, the company said.
