By JIM SCHUH
of The Gazette
Stora Enso Oyj has grand plans.
While the company doesn't want to be specific, top officials have shed some light on what could be in store for the future.
Its merger with Consolidated Papers has pushed Stora Enso into the No. 2 spot, and now Chief Executive Officer Jukka Härmälä says the "vision...is to become the leading forest products company" in the world.
At a news conference in New York City last week, Härmälä said the acquisition and subsequent listing of Stora Enso's American Depository Shares on the New York Stock Exchange were "very important milestones in the development of the group." He called the NYSE listing a "milestone with a big 'M.'" (The New York Stock Exchange uses the designation "SEO" for Stora Enso's shares.)
Härmälä said the moves bring Stora Enso "to a very strong market position," adding "we are ready for new challenges."
He also stressed that Stora Enso has become international in scope, but with a local touch wherever it operates, indicating the company is open to ideas from its merger partners. "In a merger like this, it's not a one-way street...it's definitely a two-way street."
The chief executive officer of the Helsinki, Finland-based company says he's "a great believer" that further consolidation of the paper industry is coming, adding that his company will be a player as it does.
In recent years, Stora Enso has expanded in its home market in Europe, and just took over Consolidated in North America. Härmälä says, "now that we have a real platform, we're ready to take further steps."
Asia could be Stora Enso's next target. Härmälä says he'd like to expand in Southeast Asia, and wants to look at prospects in Mainland China, where the company already has a fine paper mill at Suzhou, near Shanghai. "We want to explore how to further expand in that area," he says.
While acknowledging that additional expansion in North America is a possibility, Härmälä says, "it's not proper to be very specific about future growth." But he doesn't exclude the possibility of looking around in the United States for more acquisitions. "The North American operations are well-organized, and lay the foundation for any future developments," he says.
Stora Enso's organizational structure gives divisional heads, such as Kai Korhonen, president of Stora Enso North America (SENA), considerable operational authority. So Härmälä says "what to do (here) is in the hands of the North American organization. We are more focused on the bottom line, the timetable, customer handling, how to get the best out of it and so forth. How he does it, it's up to him."
That puts the ball in the Korhonen's court. He's running what once was all of Consolidated's operations along with Stora Enso's Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia facilities from Wisconsin Rapids.
Härmälä referred to Korhonen a question about whether Stora Enso might sell its forestlands. Korhonen repeated an answer he gave several weeks ago that the company would have to study the whole picture before making a decision. "At this point," he said, "there are no plans."
The company is bullish on the future of the paper industry. Härmälä says fundamentals of the big picture are good. Stora Enso has a "pallet of different products," he says, adding that the fundamentals of the pulp market are ""OK," and the fine papers market in Europe is strong and well balanced. Advanced papers are "rock solid," he says, and publishing papers "look quite good." In Härmälä's view, the company has strong product offerings.
Note: Jim Schuh was a guest of Stora Enso in New York. The company paid for his airfare and accommodations.