Augsburg (News release) - UPM has signed an agreement on the sale of its 50% stake in the recovered paper sorting plant ASD Altpapier Sortierung Dachau GmbH in Germany, ("ASD") to ROWE GmbH, a company specialized in services, processing and logistics in the field of recovered paper.

ROWE GmbH held already the other 50% stake in ASD and owns with completion of the
transaction 100% of the shares in ASD. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction will have no impact on the employees of ASD.

"We are pleased to sell ASD sorting operations to ROWE as they have long-term orientation to recovered paper lifecycle management. ROWE, as part of Veolia, has a high level of expertise in collecting, sorting and handling recovered paper. In the recovered paper supply market, there are still plenty of room for development and optimization, and ASD together with ROWE and Veolia is in a great position to capture this market opportunity," says Teija Konttori, Director Fibre Sourcing at UPM.

"We thank UPM for the trusting cooperation in recent years and are very pleased with the acquisition of the shares," explains Guido Adomßent, Chief Operating Officer of Veolia Umweltservice. "We will build on this successful partnership also after the full acquisition of ASD."