OREANDA-NEWS. December 15, 2011. RusForest AB will acquire all of the shares in Clean Tech East's wholly owned subsidiaries EBH and BEN - which together form Clean Tech East's Biomass Fuels business segment, whose business is to manufacture and sell wood pellets, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network.

RusForest will pay SEK 78 million (USD 11.3 million) for 100% of the shares in EBH and BEN. The internal claims Clean Tech East have against EBH and its wholly owned subsidiary Ystad Pellets AB ("YPAB") will be written off in the sale, and the stated purchase price is based on RusForest acquiring EBH and BEN as debt-free companies. Access, transfer and payment of the purchase price are expected to occur no later than 31 December 2011.

RusForest's Board and management believe that the production of wood pellets on a large scale is an attractive next step for RusForest - through increased added value, better utilization of the by-products generated in the Company's sawmill production - and as an important diversification of the Company's current business.

The acquisition of EBH and BEN gives RusForest access to otherwise hard-acquired plant-specific skills necessary to run a large-scale pellet plant. The acquisition will give RusForest access to pellet production and proven equipment that has been in production, that can relatively quickly be moved to Arkhangelsk and put into operation immediately adjacent to RusForest's existing sawmills in the port of Arkhangelsk - in an area where the price of good quality raw materials is very competitive in a global perspective.