Swedish tissue and forestry products firm SCA receives buyout offer

Two private equity firms have teamed up to table a SEK 200 billion ($22.26 billion) bid for the hygiene unit of Swedish tissue and forestry products firm Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), local daily Dagens Nyheter yesterday reported, citing unnamed sources.

SCA had announced last year that it would split into two listed companies – one focused on the wooded section of forest, pulp mills and the like and the other on hygiene with diapers and wipes.

The offer is just over SCA's market cap, hence the source believes that the bid is for whole of the company.

Investment firm Skandia, and private equity fund Nordic Capital and a third party have also made an offer as high as SEK 70 billion for the forest part SCA, the report said.

Founded in 1929 by Ivar Kreuger in 1929, SCA, also known as Swedish Cellulose Company, is a consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer.

The Stockholm-based company is Europe's largest private owner of forest land, after government-owned Sveaskog.

Its main products include incontinence products, baby nappies, feminine hygiene products, toilet tissue, kitchen towels, handkerchiefs, napkins, publication papers, solid-wood products and forest-based biofuel.

The company sells its products in over 150 countries, but its ten largest markets are Germany, the UK, the US, France, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Mexico, and Belgium. 

It has around 44,000 employees and an annual turnover of around SEK 104 billion (€11.1 billion).

SCA's largest owners are publicly owned investment manager Aktiebolaget Industrivärden and Norwegian central bank Norges Bank.