"Ilim Pulp Enterprise" and "Titan Group" Negotiate on Merger...

The major players in timber industry are Ilim Pulp Enterprise (includes the Kotlas pulp and paper mill, Bratsk and Ust- Ilim timber processing enterprises, the St. Petersburg cardboard and printing enterprise and so on) and Titan group (Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill, Arkhbum company and approximately 30 other enterprises.

In 2001, Ilim Pulp Enterprise produced more than 1.5 million tons of pulp. In 2000, Ilim Pulp Enterprise plans to produce about 1.6 million tons of pulp.

In 2001, the Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill belonging to Titan produced more than 673,000 tons of pulp, about 68,000 tons of various kinds of paper, 126.5 million square meters of cardboard packaging and 363,500 tons of cardboard. The PR service of the mill reports that in 2002 the mill will increase its production by ten times.

Ilim Pulp Enterprise and Titan are currently considering merger. Chair of the Board of Directors of Ilim Pulp Enterprise Zakhar Smushkin reports, "negotiations are underway in the form of our offers sent by our Board of Directors to the Board of Directors of the Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill belonging to Titan group. The matter is about establishment of a large structure." The market of Ilim Pulp Enterprise is the market of pulp, packaging materials and cardboard. Mikhail Moshiashvili, director of strategic development department of Ilim Pulp Enterprise explains, "In these two segments the holding has practically no competitors in the Eastern enclave, and the Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill is the leader in the Northwest."

Vremya Novostey