Resolute Forest Products Announces Newsprint Price Increase

Solenis, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, closed on the acquisition of 100% of the outstanding shares of SCL GmbH (“SCL”) on January 18, 2022. Located in Ludwigshafen, Germany, SCL produces DMA3, a primary raw material for cationic polyacrylamide production. The acquisition of the SCL business helps Solenis fulfill a strategic insourcing objective and supports Solenis’ polyacrylamide strategic global growth plan. “The acquisition of this business provides Solenis with the backward integration that supports our polyacrylamide growth plan and better enables us to provide strategic products to our customers around the world,” said John Panichella, CEO, Solenis. “This is our first bolt-on acquisition following our recent ownership change to Platinum Equity. The support by the Platinum team for our strategic growth plan has been excellent, and I am confident that our partnership will yield more of these projects in the future.”

The pulp market registered another favorable performance during the second quarter of 2024, which reflected in another round of price increase implementations and in sales growth, despite a challenging scenario that emerged in China. The quarter was also marked by the appreciation of the average USD against the average BRL during the period, contributing to an increase in net revenue. Additionally, operational performance remained in line with the plan, with cash cost of production (excluding the effect of scheduled maintenance downtimes) marginally higher than in the previous quarter. This combination of factors resulted in a significant increase in adjusted EBITDA from pulp compared to both 1Q24 (+42%) and the same period of the previous year (+74%). At the paper business unit, sales volume increased chiefly due to seasonality, while prices remained practically stable (+1%). As such, consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the quarter totaled R$6.3 billion, while operating cash flow reached R$4.5 billion.

Solenis, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, will increase prices by 15 to 20 percent across all product lines in North America and Latin America, effective October 15, or as customer contracts allow. These price increases are necessary due to unprecedented supply chain constraints and increasing costs for raw materials, transportation and packaging.