The European Commission has approved today EUR 24 million out of a planned UK State Aid of EUR 35 million, in favour of UPM-Kymmene Shotton Paper Mill located in North Wales, UK. This concludes an in-depth formal State Aid Clearance investigation begun by the European Commission in October 2002 to clarify that the financial award complied with the Commission's Guidelines for State Aid.
Through an open tender process the UPM-Kymmene project was awarded financial support from the UK Government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in 2002. The objective of the programme is to stimulate new paper recovery from the municipal waste stream, and increase recycling rates in the UK, in line with EU targets. The total amount of the investment is EUR 175 million, of which EUR 127 million is funded by UPM-Kymmene.
Throughout the process UPM-Kymmene has continued with the project and the new Recycled Fibre Pulp facility is scheduled to be commissioned, as planned, in November 2003 with full production by April 2004.
For further information please contact:
Mr Martin Gale, Managing Director, UPM-Kymmene (UK) Ltd, tel. +44 1244 284112
UPM-Kymmene Corporation
Corporate Communications
July 23, 2003
