Canada’s Fortress Paper sells Swiss banknote business for $28M
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
The Vancouver-based company has sold its Landqart mill in Switzerland and plans to focus on its Canadian dissolving pulp operations
VANCOUVER—Fortress Paper Ltd. has offloaded its Switzerland banknote and security paper business for approximately $28 million.
The Swiss National Bank along with printing and banknote producer Orell Füssli Holding AG have agreed to purchase Fortress’ full stake in the Landqart mill and its related operations. Located east of Zurich, the mill employs about 275 workers and produces paper for banknotes, passports and visas.
Vancouver-based Fortress Paper disclosed trouble at its Landqart mill earlier this year when a major client cancelled purchase orders that accounted for about 18 per cent of the subsidiary’s order book this year and 30 per cent of its business in 2018.
Chadwick Wasilenkoff, the company’s CEO, said the development would have forced Fortress to inject more capital into the business than it saw as “strategically viable.”
“After evaluating various options, management and the Board of Directors believes the transaction announced today is in the best interests of the Company under these circumstances,” he said in a statement.
With the sale, the Vancouver-based company is officially out of the banknote business and says it will focus on its dissolving pulp operations in Canada as well as other new initiatives.
