Long-time speculation about a possible combination of major European papermak-ers UPM and Stora Enso resurfaced Sept. 19 with a report by Swedish bank Handelsban-ken on possible solutions to the structural decline of Europe's papermaking industry. The report envisages UPM combining all its North American and European paper operations of some 10.3 million tonnes of newsprint, magazine, and fine paper with Stora Enso's 5.7 million tonnes of European newsprint and fine paper assets in a jointly-owned company. UPM'S share would be 65% and Stora Enso 35%, leaving Stora with about 2 million tonnes of paper assets within and outside of Europe that it could sell, Handelsbanken noted.
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