Mondi To Acquire Majority Stake In Tire Kutsan

Mondi Plc (MNDI.L), an integrated paper and packaging group, revealed the acquisition of a majority stake in Tire Kutsan, a Turkish corrugated packaging and containerboard business, for US$106.04 million.

The company also reached an agreement to purchase 100% of Unterland Flexible Packaging AG, an Austrian consumer flexibles business, for a cash and debt free enterprise value of Euro 74 million. The company expects to close these transactions before the end of the third quarter of 2007.

Under the acquisition deal with Tire Kutsan, Mondi will acquire 53.56% or 2.12 billion shares of Tire Kutsan from Yildiz Holding A.ª. Strategic Investment Fund, Birlik Pazarlama Sanayi ve Ticarat A.ª, Vural Bulut, Murat Ülker, Orhan Özokur, Ahsen Özokur, Ali Ülker, Istanbul Gida A.ª., Selim Baºaran and Cahit Baºaran for US$0.05007 per share. This values the entire issued share capital of Tire Kutsan at US$198 million, Mondi said.

The company also stated that a deal has been reached to acquire a further 388.73 million of Tire Kutsan shares or a 9.83% interest from Ülker Gida Sanayi ve Ticarat A.ª within one month of the third anniversary of the completion of the 53.56% stake purchase. In order to acquire the remaining shares in Tire Kutsan on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Mondi will apply to make a mandatory tender offer.

Mondi said that Tamer Karamollaoglu, the Chief Executive Officer of Tire Kutsan, would continue in leadership along with the senior management team.

The U.K.-based company said that it will acquire Unterland Flexible Packaging from CMP, a German financial investor, and members of the Unterland management team. The company expects that the acquisition of Unterland would add further high-quality filmmaking expertise, while creating significant purchasing synergies with Mondi's extrusion coating business.

While commenting on the acquisitions, David Hathorn, Chief Executive of Mondi, said, "Tire Kutsan and Unterland are exciting additions to the Mondi Group, further strengthening our packaging business in two of its three key segments-corrugated and flexible packaging." MNDI.L is trading at 466 pence on LSE, down 6.50 pence or 1.38%, on a volume of 11.02 million shares.