The Directorate-General Approved The Planned Merger with Munksj

On 24 May the Directorate-General for Competition of the EU Commission approved the planned merger of the Label & Processing business division of Ahlstrom with Munksj? AB with the restriction that the Ahlstrom activities in the areas of pre-impregnated products and raw abrasive papers are spun off and sold. The very first stage in the merger, the spinning off of the European activities of the Label & Processing business division (LP Europe Demerger) and the subsequent merging with Munksj?, was concluded on the same day with the EU Commission's approval. The EU Commission had approved such a premature conclusion, thus the sale of the pre-impregnated product and raw abrasive paper activities did not have any delaying effect. Ahlstrom, according to in-company information, had already instigated a corresponding sales process and is already investigating viable alternatives. In a first stage, following the closing of the merger of LP Europe and Munksj? which has now been completed, Ahlstrom will acquire all shares in Ahlstrom Osnabrück GmbH. The wallpaper activities are to be continued by Ahlstrom, by contrast the pre-impregnated product and raw abrasive paper activities are to be assigned to a third company.