Archive for August, 2009


Six companies compete for job – Pöyry among others

Filed Under: Pöyry by pietrox — Leave a comment
31/08/2009

Two Spanish companies are competing with another four firms for the contract to build a metro in Panama city, a government official said yesterday.

Metro de Madrid and the consortium SENER y Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) are the Spanish companies selected by the Interamerican Development Bank and the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) after analysing proposals from 48 corporations all bidding for the consultancy.

Also competing for the contract are the American companies URS Holdings and Parsons-Birnkerhoff, the French COTEBA and the Mexican-Swiss group made up of POYRY and Cal y Mayor.

The Executive Secretary of the Government’s Metro team, Roberto Roy, said yesterday that the selection of the winning company would be based on “demonstrated experience of integrated technical assistance in Metro type projects.”

The winning company will develop the conceptual design, call for bids for the construction contract and administer the project, according to a presidential source.

The Government will announce the terms of reference for the contract on 31 August and the final selection regarding the winning bid will be made at the end of September.

As the consultancy contract is still in its planning stages, it is not yet known what the budget will be.

The construction of the metro was one of the main electoral promises made by Ricardo Martinelli who created the position of Executive Secretary for the Metro on 1 July, the same day he assumed the presidency.

via Six companies compete for job :: La Estrella Panamá :: laestrella.com.pa :: 2009.

Comment

Metsaliitto sees better sawn goods demand

Filed Under: Honkarakenne by pietrox — Leave a comment
26/08/2009

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finnish forestry collective Metsaliitto is seeing stronger demand for sawn goods in Europe as the construction business slowly improves, but it faces a potential shortage of logs, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

Ole Salven, head of Metsaliitto’s wood products business, told a Reuters Paper and Packaging Summit that log sellers have been holding out for better prices and that if they do not begin selling more, it could be forced to curtail production further.

“At the moment we are in a situation where the demand is relatively better than before,” Salven said. “As it looks now we will have a shortage of logs. So lumber prices in our market segment have increased quite dramatically in the last few months.”

Metsaliitto, a major player in the timber industry, is owned by some 130,000 Finnish forest owners. The group, which owns half the private forests in all of Finland, competes with paper producers Stora Enso (STERV.HE) and UPM (UPM1V.HE). Metsaliitto also owns a controlling stake in M-real (MRLBV.HE).

Salven said that while the construction industry had undergone a profound decline, the renovation industry had held up better and was set to show only modest slippage for 2009 and possibly grow a little next year.

“If people don’t move, they tend to renovate. So that market is especially good and it’s a big market for us. There is also an element of stocking up in order not to lose out.”

But after log prices fell some 25-30 percent from their peak in late 2007, log sellers are showing reluctance to sell at current levels even though prices have come up recently.

“Now the rumors are around there is a shortage of logs,” Salven said. “Saw mills have actually curtailed production to balance demand … And now demand for sawn timber is quite good.”

Salven said the construction market was still in negative territory, but not so acutely as before. “Now we are in a situation where the construction market has stopped falling and actually rebounded a little bit.”

Salven said that after depleting its inventory of old logs as of the end of June, Metsaliitto would like to stock up.

“We believe that demand is strong enough for us to do it,” he said. “We would like to buy, but not enough people would like to sell at levels where we think we are competitive.”

If Metsaliitto is unable to buy enough logs at competitive prices, the group is ready to curb output at its sawmills. “We will not continue to go the volume way. We will then curtail production,” Salven said. “We cannot continue to produce at losses.”

via Metsaliitto sees better sawn goods demand | Reuters.

Comment

Papermakers' global rankings – capacity, sales

Filed Under: Forest, Pöyry by pietrox — Leave a comment
24/08/2009

Aug 24 (Reuters) – Following are the rankings of the world’s largest paper makers by total capacity, by paper grades and by turnover.

WORLD’S BIGGEST PAPER AND BOARD PRODUCERS
(by capacity, thousands of tonnes):

  1. International Paper 17,960
  2. Stora Enso 13,177
  3. UPM-Kymmene 11,120
  4. Nine Dragons 10,111
  5. Georgia-Pacific 9,354
  6. Nippon 9,054
  7. Asia Pulp and Paper 9,006
  8. Oji 8,890
  9. AbitibiBowater 7,248
  10. Smurfit Kappa 7,152

Asia Pulp and Paper is part of Sinar Mas group. Georgia-Pacific is owned by Koch Industries, Inc, a private U.S. company headquartered in Wichita, Kan.

WORLD’S BIGGEST MAGAZINE PAPER MANUFACTURERS
(by capacity, thousands of tonnes):

  1. UPM-Kymmene 4,950
  2. Stora Enso 3,585
  3. AbitibiBowater 2,732
  4. Myllykoski 2,431
  5. NewPage 2,037
  6. Norske Skog 1,535
  7. Sappi 1,445
  8. Burgo Group 1,255
  9. Nippon 1,160
  10. SCA 1,000

Myllykoski is a privately held Finnish firm.  NewPage is majority-owned by Cerberus Capital Management. Italian Burgo is closely held, with Holding Gruppo Marchi having 48 percent of shares, Mediobanca 22 percent, with Generali and Italmobiliare having 11.7 percent.

WORLD’S BIGGEST NEWSPRINT MANUFACTURERS
(by capacity, thousands of tonnes):

  1. AbitibiBowater 4,376
  2. Norske Skog 3,421
  3. Stora Enso 2,570
  4. UPM-Kymmene 2,060
  5. Nippon 1,988
  6. White Birch Paper* 1,798
  7. Oji 1,315
  8. Catalyst Paper 1,272
  9. Huatai 1,210
  10. Holmen 1,135

White Birch Paper is owned by Peter Brant (75 pct), Michael Fuchs (12.5), and Aby Rosen (12.5 pct)

WORLD’S BIGGEST FINE PAPER MANUFACTURERS
(by capacity, thousands of tonnes):

  1. Asia Pulp and Paper 5,316
  2. International Paper 5,212
  3. Sappi 4,210
  4. Domtar 3,570
  5. UPM-Kymmene 3,570
  6. Stora Enso 3,305
  7. Nippon 3,095
  8. Oji 2,401
  9. Mondi 1,968
  10. NewPage 1,935

WORLD’S BIGGEST FOREST, PAPER AND PACKAGING FIRMS BY SALES:
(2008, mln of US$) ROCE

  1. International Paper 24,829 1.5
  2. Kimberly-Clark 19,415 14.8
  3. SCA 16,965 5.8
  4. Stora Enso 16,227 4.2
  5. UPM 13,920 2.0
  6. Oji Paper 12,788 1.6
  7. Nippon 11,753 1.2
  8. Smurfit Kappa 10,390 6.7
  9. Metsaliitto 9,466 -1.4
  10. Mondi 9,335 3.7

ROCE — Return on Capital Employed is calculated as net income before unusual items, minority interest, and interest expense, on an after tax basis, divided by average total assets less average non-interest bearing current liabilities. Source: Poyry, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Reporting by Helsinki Newsroom; editing by Hans Peters)

via FACTBOX-Papermakers’ global rankings – capacity, sales – Forbes.com.

Comment

Lista kiinteistörahastojen omistajista

Filed Under: Sponda by pietrox — Leave a comment
20/08/2009

NV Property Fund I Ky: sijoittajina ovat Nordea Henkivakuutus Suomi Oy, Keskinäinen työeläkevakuutusyhtiö Varma ja Valtion eläkerahasto.

Tags: ,
Comment

Government of Karelia and PKC Group Oyj have signed the Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction

Filed Under: PKC Group by pietrox — Leave a comment
18/08/2009

Government of Karelia and PKC Group Oyj (Finland) have signed the Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction. Its purpose is to undertake joint actions directed on minimization of consequences of financial and economic crisis and maintenance of effective and steady work of enterprises of the concern in Kostomuksha. From the Government of republic the Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Pavel Chernov, from the Concern – by its President Harri Suutari.

PKC Group Oyj owns four enterprises operating in Karelia, the most famous of which is Karhakos. According to Harri Suutari, financial crisis has caused conditions extremely adverse for further work of enterprises, and they became noncompetitive. In January management of the Concern has requested assistance from the Head of Karelia Sergey Katanandov, who has initiated a working group to studying situation at the enterprises. Then the decision was made to signing the Agreement on Cooperation.

– The Agreement we have signed observes interests of the Governments of Karelia, and of the Concern, – Prime Minister Pavel Chernov has told. – We are interested to keep the Concern’s presence in the republic. Obligations undertaken by the Government are to be executed by all means.

For example, to preserve the number of employees of the enterprises of the Concern the Government undertakes to assist in participation of enterprises in the regional program of employment of population in the republic. Also it undertakes to consider granting income and corporate property tax exemptions. A number of other obligations is also stipulated.

President of the PKC Group Oyj Concern Harri Suutari noted that he was glad to sign the Agreement. «We know what to do to help the enterprise to survive, to help it stay in the Russian market,» – President of the Concern has told. Now some problems have been worked through and solved. In particular, the basic community of workers of enterprises of the Concern is preserved, which makes 700 people.

According to the Agreement, the concern undertakes to take measures on preservation of production, provide steady work of enterprises, preserve the number of employees of enterprises and their employment and exclusion of mass lay-offs. Besides, at the enterprises there should be preserved operating social programs and, workers should receive wages in due time. All these obligations, according to the President of the PKC Group Oyj Harri Suutari, are usual work for the Concern, now only issued in official frameworks.

Prime Minister Pavel Chernov has wished good luck to enterprises in the period of hard work for them. He has also informed, that the created working group will continue to keep track of the situation at enterprises of the Concern, and the Government of Karelia will held them whenever possible. Harri Suutari, in turn, has asked to convey thanks to the Head of Karelia for support already rendered to the Concern.

via 18.08.2009 – Government of Karelia and PKC Group Oyj have signed the Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction.

Comment