Competition authority prevents acquisition of Uetersen paper mill
On 9 October, Brigl & Bergmeister withdrew its application to the German Federal 
Cartel Office for approval of the merger with the Uetersen paper mill.
In May 2014, Brigl & Bergmeister GmbH signed an agreement for acquisition of the Uetersen speciality paper mill from the Stora Enso Group, subject to merger control approval.
Already in September, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) expressed reservations against the merger. Both parties subsequently submitted further conclusive market information and expert reports, none of which, however, managed to persuade the FCO to change its stance. Consequently, Brigl & Bergmeister withdrew the merger application on 9 October 2014.
The contracting parties have mutually agreed to cancel the share purchase agreement.
Brigl & Bergmeister regret the decision made by the FCO. The label market would have benefited substantially from the acquisition of the Uetersen paper mill. The merger would have created a strong group of speciality paper mills and provided positive impulses throughout the entire value chain.
At the two locations in Austria and Slovenia, Brigl & Bergmeister manufacture wet-strength and non-wet strength label papers as well as flexible packaging papers.
BRIEF INFORMATION BRIGL & BERGMEISTER
B&B is the leading manufacturer of label papers and flexible packaging papers. Annually, some 100 billion labels are printed on B&B papers, and our papers bear the face of innumerable famous brands.
The Brigl & Bergmeister plant is located at the heart of Europe, in Niklasdorf in Styria | Austria.
ENAGES, the thermal recycling plant of Brigl & Bergmeister, supplies the factory with 100% CO2-neutral energy in the form of steam and electricity.
The Papirnica Vevče factory is situated in Slovenia, in the greater area of Ljubljana. A cooperation that had originally started as a joint venture has developed into a fully-fledged partnership. Since 2004, Papirnica Vevče has been a 100% subsidiary of Brigl & Bergmeister.
Brigl & Bergmeister, ENAGES as well as Papirnica Vevče are part of the Vienna-based Roxcel group of companies.
