(Yicai) Oct. 14 -- Shanying International Holdings, a leading Chinese paper packaging material supplier, will sell its entire stake in its Swedish-listed subsidiary Nordic Paper Holding for SEK1.6 billion (USD155 million) to optimize asset allocation.

A newly-established unit of US investment firm Strategic Value Partners will purchase the 48.2 percent stake in Nordic Paper that Shanying owns through its Swedish subsidiary at a price of SEK50 (USD4.80) per share, Shanghai-based Shanying announced yesterday, citing the binding asset transfer agreement its subsidiary signed with SVP after the latter issued a takeover offer to all Nordic Paper’s shareholders.

Shares of Nordic Paper [STO: NPAPER] closed at SEK50.30 on Oct. 11.

The sale aims to reduce the proportion of Shanying’s European business to optimize resource allocation and focus on the development of its core business, the company noted, adding that it will still seize potential opportunities to explore overseas markets in the future.

Shanying purchased 100 percent of Nordic Paper for SEK2.4 billion (USD234.5 million) in October 2017 to enter the high-end specialty paper market segment and enhance its overseas market business layout. The company promoted the listing of Nordic Paper on the Stockholm Nasdaq OMX Exchange three years later, cutting its holdings in the Swedish firm by more than half.

In March, Shanying announced it planned to sell all or some of the stake it indirectly holds in Nordic Paper to optimize its own resource allocation.

Shanying’s shares [SHA: 600567] rose 1.9 percent to CNY1.63 (23 US cents) in Shanghai today. 

Nordic Paper has five paper mills in Sweden, Norway, and Canada, with a combined production capacity of 500,000 tons of premium specialty pulp paper. Its natural greaseproof paper and kraft paper products are mainly sold in high-end markets in Europe and North America, with some also being exported to East Asia and Australia.

Nordic Paper’s revenue and net profit reached SEK2.4 billion and SEK320 million (USD30.8 million), respectively, in the first half of the year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione