UPM has announced  that it signed an agreement to sell its Schwedt newsprint mill site in Germany to LEIPA Georg Leinfelder for EUR 70 million, reported PaperAge.

Currently, the mill has the capacity to produce 280,000 tonnes per year of newsprint, but LEIPA plans to eventually convert the mill’s production to 450,000 tonnes per year of linerboard.

As part of the deal, the parties have entered a manufacturing agreement whereby newsprint would be produced by the mill for  a transition period that would end no later than the close of 2017. 

“With this transaction UPM and LEIPA will have an improved opportunity to develop their business-       es. LEIPA is a successful player in the liner business,” said Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President, UPM Paper ENA.