Borenius advised the lenders on the financing of Metsä Fibre’s bioproduct mill in Kemi

We advised a syndicate of Nordic and international commercial banks in relation to the financing of the construction of Metsä Fibre’s bioproduct mill in Kemi, Finland. The syndicate was led by Nordea as the agent and coordinator.

The EUR 1.0 billion senior loan financing comprises several facilities, including a EUR 100 million green term loan facility for eligible green purposes. Finnvera, the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board (EKN) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are also involved in the financing arrangements in addition to the bank syndicate.

The EUR 1.6 billion bioproduct mill to be constructed by Metsä Fibre, which is part of the Metsä Group, will be the largest ever forest industry investment in Finland. The target for the ongoing pre-engineering project is to create conditions for constructing a bioproduct mill with an annual production capacity of approximately 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp to Metsä Group’s current mill site in Kemi.

The mill will produce various other bioproducts in addition to pulp. Once completed, the Kemi bioproduct mill will be the largest wood processing unit in the Northern hemisphere. The construction of the bioproduct mill will take approximately 2.5 years and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2023.

Metsä Fibre is a leading producer of wood-based bioproducts, such as pulp, sawn timber, biochemicals and bioenergy. The company produces pulp and bioproducts at four mills in Finland. Its sawn timber products, on the other hand, are produced at five sawmills in Finland and one sawmill in Russia.

In addition to the financing of the bioproduct mill, we advised the bank syndicate in connection with Metsä Fibre’s EUR 200 million revolving facility agreement linked to sustainability targets.