Press ReleasesNippon Paper Industries Converts Brazilian Firm AMCEL
into a Wholly Owned Subsidiary- To Secure Strategic Forest Resources That Serve as the Foundations
for a Comprehensive Biomass Company -
Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.
Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Yoshio Haga) today converted AMCEL of Brazil (refer to Note 1), a joint venture company with Marubeni Corporation (President and CEO: Teruo Asada) for tree-planting, timber production and export operations, into its wholly owned subsidiary. At the same time, Nippon Paper Industries transferred all the shares it had held in WAPRES (refer to Note 2), a joint venture with Marubeni in Australia, to Marubeni.
Nippon Paper Industries has worked to increase the woody biomass resources in Japan and abroad by advancing its 'Tree Farm Initiative' (refer to Note 3). AMCEL which is located in the northern end of Brazil has advantage of its short distance from Europe, where demand for woody biomass fuel is rising due to the aggressive renewable energy policies adopted in recent years. Nippon Paper Industries, as a comprehensive biomass company that uses wood in a wide-ranging manner, positions AMCEL as one of the strongholds for its further activities of resource energy, in addition to meeting current demand for producing raw materials for pulp and paper, and chose to focus its management resources on AMCEL.ă
Nippon Paper Industries will build and expand planted forest resources in a more efficient manner by applying tree-planting and breeding techniques developed at AMCEL utilizing its abundant and renewable forest resources by the Nippon Paper Group over the course of many years to the operations and working to improve the growth potential and quality of planted trees. At the same time, Nippon Paper Industries will seek to increase the management efficiency of the tree-planting projects it is undertaking around the globe and to increase its ability to compete in overseas markets, with mounting interest in woody biomass use for power generation and other purposes in the background.
- Note1:Outline of AMCEL
| Official company name | Amapa Florestal e Celulose S.A. |
|---|---|
| Location | Santana, Amapa, Brazil |
| Year of establishment | 1976 (Nippon Paper Industries acquired AMCEL jointly with Marubeni by investing in the joint venture on a fifty-fifty basis in 2006) |
| Capital structure | Nippon Paper Industries 100% (structure up until and including March 29, 2013: Nippon Paper Industries 50%, Marubeni 50%) |
| Business summary | tree planting and export of chip and biomass fuels |
| Planted area | approximately 60,000 hectares (total land holdings: 300,000 hectares; plantable area: 130,000 hectares) |
- Note2:Outline of WAPRES
| Official company name | WA Plantation Resources Pty. Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Location | Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia |
| Year of establishment | 2000 |
| Capital structure | Marubeni 100% (structure up until and including March 29, 2013: Nippon Paper Industries 50%, Marubeni 50%) |
| Business summary | tree planting and chip export (mainly to Japan) |
| Planted area | approximately 30,000 hectares |
- Note3:Tree Farm Initiative
The Tree Farm Initiative is Nippon Paper Industries' overseas tree-planting project. In the project, sustainable woody biomass resources development is practiced by growing trees, harvesting them and repeating the process as if growing vegetables on farms.