OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2013. UPM has signed an agreement on the sale of Pestovo sawmill real estate and machinery with Lesnaya Innovacionnaya Kompanya (LIK) LLC, company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network. The parties have agreed not to disclose the sales price. UPM announced the search for a buyer for the Pestovo sawmill on 10 January 2013.

The Pestovo mill personnel will not automatically transfer to the new owner. However, the company plans to restart the sawmilling operations as soon as possible mainly with the current employees.

The sale of the Pestovo sawmill follows UPM’s renewed Timber business strategy announced in April 2012. UPM focuses on the development of sawmills closely integrated with the company’s pulp and paper mills.

Lesnaya Innovacionnaya Kompanya (LIK) focuses on logging operations in Novgorod region, Russia. By acquiring the Pestovo sawmill, the company expands its operations into sawn timber manufacturing and sales.

UPM Pestovo sawmill is located in the Novgorod region of Northwest Russia. Production in Pestovo started in 2004. The annual production capacity of the mill is 260,000 cubic meters of sawn timber and 40,000 cubic meters of planned goods.

UPM Timber manufactures top-class sawn pine and spruce timber and further processed products for the construction and joinery industries. UPM Timber annually produces around 1.8 million cubic metres of timber from wood acquired from certified forests. UPM Timber’s production units are located in Finland, Austria and France. In Finland, UPM operates four sawmills in Lappeenranta (Kaukas), Pietarsaari (Alholma), Korkeakoski and Pori (Seikku).