Stora Enso
Encyclopedia
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
pulp and paper manufacturer
Pulp and paper industry
The global pulp and paper industry is dominated by North American , northern European and East Asian countries...
, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, and it has approximately 29,000 employees. In 2002 it was the fifth largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
and in 2005 it was the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of production capacity, it is now second behind International Paper
International Paper
International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:...
. Finnish state is the biggest owner in the company. The Wallenberg family
Wallenberg family
The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish banking family, renowned as bankers, industrialists, politicians, diplomats and philanthropists. The most famous of the Wallenbergs, Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat, worked in Budapest, Hungary, during World War II to rescue Jews from the Holocaust...
through their foundation asset management company FAM
Foundation Asset Management AB
Foundation Asset Management AB is a Swedish foundation asset management company, founded by the three largest Wallenberg foundations in order to manage the assets of the foundations, by means of direct ownership as well as through management- and consultancy agreements...
is the second biggest shareholder in the company.
History
Stora Enso was formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. In line with this, Stora Enso expanded its operations by acquiring wood products businesses and bought paper merchant businesses in Europe. In 2000 the company bought Consolidated Papers in North America. Stora Enso also slowly expanded its operations in South America, Asia and Russia.In recent years the company has gone through heavy restructuring. The North American operations were divested in 2007 to NewPage Corporation. Stora Enso has sold and closed down some of its mills in Finland, Sweden and Germany.
History of Stora
The Swedish copper mining company Stora Kopparberg ("great copper mountainGreat Copper Mountain
Great Copper Mountain was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two thirds of Europe's copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden's wars in the 17th century. Technological developments at the mine had a profound influence on...
") in Falun
Falun
Falun is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 36,447 inhabitants in 2005. It is also the capital of Dalarna County...
was granted a charter from King Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus Eriksson as Magnus IV was king of Sweden , including Finland, as Magnus VII King of Norway , including Iceland and Greenland, and also ruled Scania . He has also vindictively been called Magnus Smek...
in 1347, although the first share
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
in the company (granting the Bishop of Västerås 12.5% ownership) dates from 1288. Some claim this to be the oldest existing corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
or limited liability company
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...
in the world.
Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB was incorporated as a modern shareholder company in 1862. Towards the end of the 19th century, it diversified from copper mining and entered pulp and paper production. In 1984 it shortened its name to Stora AB. The copper mine closed down in 1992. In 1998, it merged with Enso to form Stora Enso.
In 1997, the year before the merger, Stora had 20,400 employees and a turnover of 44.5 billion SEK. The company owned 2.3 million hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s of forest of which 1.6 million hectares (an area larger than Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
) in Sweden and the rest in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It also produced 7.5 TWh of mostly hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
.
History of Enso
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
as W. Gutzeit & Co. by Wilhelm Gutzeit, the half-brother of industrialist Benjamin Wegner
Jacob Benjamin Wegner
Jacob Benjamin Wegner was a Prussian-born, Norwegian investor, industrialist, diplomat and landowner.-Biography:Jacob Benjamin Wegner was born in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was from a shipping family...
. His son Hans Gutzeit moved the company to Finland, where it became the largest forestry company in the country.
Enso-Gutzeit Osakeyhtiö bought A. Ahlström Osakeyhtiö’s forest industries at Varkaus
Varkaus
Varkaus is a Middle-Savonian industrial town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .The municipality is...
in December 1986. In 1995 a decision was made to merge two state owned forest giants together. The merger materialized next year when Enso-Gutzeit Oy and North Finland based Veitsiluoto Oy formed Enso Oy.
In 2000, the company acquired the U.S. company Consolidated Paper. In the same year, Stora Enso and AssiDomän formed a joint company, Billerud AB, to produce packaging paper.
See also
- Great Copper MountainGreat Copper MountainGreat Copper Mountain was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two thirds of Europe's copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden's wars in the 17th century. Technological developments at the mine had a profound influence on...
- AhlstromAhlstromAhlstrom is a Finnish wood processing firm and a global manufacturer of specialty papers and nonwoven materials, using natural and synthetic fibers to produce roll goods for customers who turn them into hundreds of products. Ahlstrom's shares have been traded on the main list of the Helsinki Stock...
- Enso (town)SvetogorskSvetogorsk is an industrial town in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus, on the Vuoksa River. It is located one kilometer from the Russian–Finnish border, five kilometers from the Finnish town of Imatra, and 207 kilometers from St. Petersburg...
- List of Finnish companies
- List of oldest companies
- List of Swedish companies
- Svenska Cellulosa AktiebolagetSvenska Cellulosa AktiebolagetSvenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget is a Swedish consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Stockholm. It has approximately 45,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 107 billion...
- UPM-Kymmene