Fedrigoni CEO Provides Clarity on the Acquisition of "Certain Assets" of Mohawk Fine Papers

"For the sake of clarity, Fedrigoni did not acquire Mohawk as a whole legal entity, but only certain selected assets." – Marco Nespolo, CEO, Fedrigoni Group.

Feb. 24, 2024 - After weeks of news outlet reports about Fedrigoni Group's intention to acquire Mohawk Fine Papers, Fedrigoni yesterday announced that it acquired "certain assets" of Mohawk Fine Papers.

However, the initial press release posted by Fedrigoni and Mohawk did not include specific details as to what exactly is involved in the deal.

PaperAge reached out to Mohawk by email asking about the assets. Our request was forwarded to Fedrigoni's London-based PR agency, TDC PR.

TDC CEO Tim Duncan kindly provided PaperAge with the following remarks from Fedrigoni Group CEO, Marco Nespolo, to help clarify the transaction.

"For the sake of clarity, Fedrigoni did not acquire Mohawk as a whole legal entity, but only certain selected assets," Mr. Nespolo said. "The sharing of core values such as solid know-how and a focus on innovation and environmental impact reduction led to the acquisition of certain assets from Mohawk, and such assets are now owned by one or more newly created companies that become part of the Fedrigoni Special Papers division and represent an important piece in the Group's overseas growth strategy.

"Neither GPA [GPA is part of the Fedrigoni Group and is based in McCook, Illinois (USA)] nor Fedrigoni will integrate Mohawk as the Fedrigoni Group has not acquired Mohawk as a whole legal entity, but only certain selected assets. A NewCo set up by Fedrigoni will own the assets purchased from Mohawk. GPA and such NewCo will remain distinct entities within Fedrigoni Group, led by different management teams with separate commercial go-to-market. Particularly GPA will not sell Mohawk branded products."

Mohawk owns two paper mills in New York, one in Cohoes and another in Waterford. The company also has a warehouse in Albany, NY.

Mr. Nespolo continued, "Part of the deal are certain production assets in Waterford and Cohoes papermills and the Albany Warehouse. Fedrigoni aims at maintaining the Mohawk brand to further leverage its brand equity that, since 1931, is recognized among the best-known specialty paper manufacturers in the U.S. market.

"The majority of existing jobs in the acquired production assets in Waterford and Cohoes papermills and the Albany Warehouse (around 230 people out of 287 or 80%) will join the Fedrigoni Group," Mr. Nespolo concluded.

SOURCE: TDC PR, and PaperAge

Go to a related article: Fedrigoni Acquires Certain Assets of US-based Mohawk Fine Papers - Feb 23, 2024.