Swedish institutions acquire Kinnevik's share in BillerudKorsnäs

BillerudKorsnäs' plant in Karlsborg, Sweden. Photo: Stigfinnare

Investment AB Kinnevik recently announced that a limited number of Swedish institutions have acquired all of Kinnevik's 51.8 million shares in BillerudKorsnäs for a total consideration of SEK 3.7 billion (SEK 72 per share). The majority of the shares were acquired by AMF, the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's (AP4) and Alecta. The remaining shares were acquired by a small number of financial institutions, mainly four larger Swedish equity funds. The integration of Korsnäs and Billerud has been successfully implemented creating larger synergies than initially expected. With Kinnevik's increasing focus on digital services in telecom & financial services, online and media, the sale of BillerudKorsnäs is a further step in developing our strategy. After the transaction, Kinnevik will have net cash of around SEK 3 billion. In order to have financial flexibility, the goal is to have no or a low leverage in the Parent Company and the transaction will not affect Kinnevik's expected dividend. The price of SEK 72 per share corresponds to a discount of 5% compared to the volume weighted average price of BillerudKorsnäs share on NasdaqOMX in the past 30 trading days and 0% compared to the volume in the past 60 trading days. "The merger of Korsnäs and Billerud is now successfully implemented and I am proud of the value that has been created. As large and long-term financial institutions acquire our shares, we ensure stability for the company going forward. Kinnevik's financial position is very strong which will support the continued development of our current holdings and enable us to continue to make new investments within telecom and financial services, online and media." says Mia Brunell Livfors, CEO of Kinnevik.