Suominen Corp. — a Finland-based supplier of nonwovens, wet wipes and flexible packaging for consumer products — will invest approximately 2.5 million euros (US$3.3 million) at its plant in Windsor Locks, Conn., to expand production capacity for its Hydraspun? Substrates — including Hydraspun Dispersable Substrate, a nonwoven roll good for flushable wipes. The Windsor Locks plant operates under Suominen's Nonwovens business unit.
"We have decided to proceed with this investment in order to be able to answer to our customers' increasing demand," said Jean-Marie Becker, executive vice president, Suominen Nonwovens. "We will further strengthen our position in the wipes market, and particularly in this market segment, and the investment will expand the production capacity of our proprietary Hydraspun Substrate technology."
To further strengthen its strategic focus on nonwovens, Suominen has sold all shares of Codi Wipes — its wet wipes business unit based in the Netherlands — to Cogitandum BV — a subsidiary of private investment firm Value Enhancement Partners, the Netherlands — for approximately 9.2 million euros (US$12 million). Following the closing of the transaction, Suominen will operate two business units, Nonwovens and Flexibles.
"Divesting Codi Wipes business unit is very well in line with our 'In the Lead' strategy as the deal clarifies both our corporate structure and our position in wipes value chain, particularly in relation to our nonwovens customers," said Nina Kopola, president and CEO, Suominen Corp. "We can now concentrate even better on further strengthening our competitiveness in nonwovens. "Due to our major expansion in nonwovens, the strategic role of an own converting unit has clearly diminished from 2003, when Codi International was acquired. For Codi International, this transaction assures an owner with strategic interest to develop the company further."
"Codi International holds a very strong position in the European wet wipes industry with a highly automated production that provides some of the highest quality converting possibilities in Europe," said Kenneth Tjon, managing partner, Value Enhancement Partners. "The fragmented market and growth in upcoming markets presents opportunities to increase the scale of the company and to diversify its production into more geographies and products, thereby also potentially being better able to serve its globally operating customers. We look forward to realizing the growth plans together with management."
