Arauco and Sonae have registered on February 2 the establisment of the joint-venture announced in November 2015. The joint-venture is currently under review and expects approval by the EU Commission. The decision is expected on March 8.
The new venture will be named Sonae-Arauco, S.A. and is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2016, if approved.
In order to form the joint-venture, Arauco subscribed for 50% of Sonae's Tafisa, for a $150 million investment. Tafisa owns 10 panel mills that are distributed in Spain, Portugal, Germany and South Africa. Combined, these production facilities employ 3,000 people and produce a total of 4.2 million cubic metres of panels.
Tafisa has estimated annual sales of $900 million- produces and sells OSB, MDF, and PB panels, as well as sawn timber. Arauco will operate two panel mills and one saw mill in Spain; two panel mills and one resin facility in Portugal; four panel mills in Germany and two in South Africa. Sonae-Arauco’s production capacity will be about 460,000 m3 of OSB, 1.45 million m3 of MDF, 2.27 million cubic metres of particleboard and 100,000 cubic metres of sawn timber.
This investment will rank Arauco as the second producer in the wood panel global ranking, with an annual production of 9 million m3, which includes 50% of Tafisa’s production.
