Metso Paper owned Scandinavian Mill Service group is strengthening its operations in Finland

Published Feb 2, 2004 15.00.00 +2 GMT

Scandinavian Mill Service Oy (SMS), owned by Metso Paper Oy and Metso Automation Oy, have on Jan 31, 2004, acquired all shares of Paper Mill Service Kauttua Oy and Kauttuan Automaatio- ja Sähköpalvelu Oy.

Based on this acquisition, the Scandinavian Mill Service group will have an additional 50 experts for electrical, automation and mechanical mill maintenance. This increases the number of maintenance professionals in SMS group in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Czech Republic to 300.

This acquisition supports Metso Paper's customer-oriented strategy and strengthens the position of Scandinavian Mill Service group, a part of Metso Paper Service, as a provider of mill maintenance to the pulp and paper industry.

The previous main owners of PMS and KASPA, Kari Rantama ja Liisa Kalakoski, were satisfied with the transactions: "We wanted to secure the best possible future for these companies and to our customers. That’s why we came to this solution. We believe that we now have excellent possibilities to develop both our company and our customers' operations in long term. Metso Paper is the world's leading supplier in our field and now we have this knowhow available. Though the Finnish pulp and paper industry is taking the first steps in mill maintenance outsourcing, we are sure that this direction will be strengthened both in Finland and globally".

Paper Mill Service Kauttua Oy (PMS) and Kauttuan Automaatio- ja Sähköpalvelu Oy (KASPA) were established as a result of mill maintenance outsourcing in the beginning of 90'. These companies are providing all mill maintenance for Ahlström Kauttua Oy and Jujo Thermal Oy specialty paper mills located in Eura, Finland. PMS and KASPA are offering their maintenance-related services also to other Finnish pulp and paper industry.

Scandinavian Mill Service group specializes in developing mill maintenance for the pulp and paper industry, especially in cases where the customer is outsourcing their maintenance operations. Together with Metso Paper and Metso Automation, the company is capable to offer its customers, in addition to maintenance development, also Original Equipment Manufacturer competence, enabling the development of overall competitiveness.

More information: Jukka Tiitinen, President, Service Business Line, Metso Paper, Inc., tel. +358 40 740 6178 Ari Mankki, Managing Director, Scandinavian Mill Service Oy, tel. +358 40 582 1408