Major Announcements

Sylvamo, the world's paper company, is announcing Jean-Michel Ribiéras, chairman and chief executive officer, will retire Dec. 31.

Vanhanen will resign from the Board when he assumes his position as CEO.

Smurfit Westrock plc announced it will permanently close its coated recycled board (CRB) mill in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. and will discontinue production at its containerboard mill in Forney, Texas, U.S. The specialty coating facility at Forney will not be impacted. As a result, the Company's containerboard and CRB capacity is expected to reduce by over 500,000 tons.

The mill, which produces both coated recycled paperboard (CRB) and uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) is expected to remove 50,000 tons of CRB and 22,000 tons of URB capacity from the market and will end Greif's coated paperboard production on the West Coast.

The new facility is currently scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2026 and create an estimated 65 new jobs to the current facility with a total of 190 team members.

Metsä Board Corporation's long-term CEO Mika Joukio has decided to step down from his CEO position as of 7 April 2025 in accordance with the agreement he has made with the Board of Directors of the company. The Board of Directors of Metsä Board Corporation has appointed Metsä Group's EVP, Strategy, Esa Kaikkonen (LLM, trained on the bench), as the new CEO of the company as of 7 April 2025.

Clearwater Paper Corporation has renewed the employment agreement with Arsen S. Kitch, who will continue in his role as President and Chief Executive Officer, according to a recent SEC filing.

Oliver Taudien, senior vice president and general manager, Europe, is leaving the company after a transition period. He has been with Sylvamo since its inception as a spinoff of International Paper in 2021.

After what is said to have been a messy and sometimes slow process, the choice will be between two internal candidates.

Stora Enso's new consumer packaging board line at the Oulu site in Finland has started production ramp-up. The first customer deliveries are expected in the second quarter of 2025.

Final preparations at the production site are ongoing, and the project budget remains unchanged.

UPM continues to selectively align its paper capacity with profitable customer demand to ensure performance and therefore plans to permanently close its paper mill in Ettringen, Germany, reducing the annual capacity of uncoated mechanical paper by 270,000 tonnes during July 2025.

Mativ Holdings, Inc. announced the appointment of Shruti Singhal, current member of Mativ's Board of Directors, as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective today. Mr. Singhal succeeds Julie Schertell, who has stepped down as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as a director.

Sealed Air Corporation announced that Emile Chammas, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, will depart from the company effective April 1, 2025. The departure is a mutual agreement, according to the company's latest 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Irving Paper says it has permanently shut down 50 percent of its operations due to New Brunswick's "uncompetitive industrial electricity rates."

Robert P. Mundy, PCA's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will step down as CFO on May 1, 2025 and remain employed by PCA in an advisory role through his planned retirement date of March 1, 2026. Bob has served as PCA's CFO since 2015. Kent A. Pflederer, PCA's General Counsel since he joined PCA in 2007, will become PCA's Executive Vice President and CFO on May 1, 2025.

ND Paper plans to re-start PM 25 at its Biron, Wisconsin mill. This machine was idled in April of 2023. With the successful conversion of PM 26 at Biron to recycled packaging and the growing demand for ND Paper's packaging products, the Company to add the capacity of PM 25 back to its portfolio.

Tim Nicholls named Executive Vice President and President of DS Smith, an International Paper company; Lance Loeffler named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Sealed Air (SEE) announced that Dustin Semach has been appointed to serve as the president and CEO, effective immediately. Semach will also serve as a member of the board of directors and its executive committee.

Domtar's subsidiary company, Paper Excellence, entered into a settlement with the provincial government following the closure of the Northern Pulp mill in 2020. As part of the settlement, which resolved a $450-million lawsuit filed by Paper Excellence against the provincial government over closure, Domtar agreed to explore the viability of opening a new mill in Liverpool.

Jussi Vanhanen, LLM, MBA, has been appointed as Metsäliitto Cooperative's new CEO. He will also be the President and CEO of Metsä Group. Jussi Vanhanen will start in his new position on 1 July 2025. Until 30 June 2025, the position will be held by Metsä Group's current President and CEO Ilkka Hämälä, who will then transfer to special duties within the company. These duties will continue until 23 October 2025, when he retires.

Layoffs are expected to begin April 11 and conclude on or before June 13, the notice states.

The project would create over 400 new jobs and increase the UK's self-sufficiency in the tissue paper market to approximately 85%.

The company also said it will close its recycling plant in Phoenix and box plant in Hazelton, Pa., during the same time period.

This is a tremendous loss for everyone at the Sofidel Group, who express their profound sorrow for this loss and extend their condolences to the entire Stefani family.