July 2020
Strategic & Financial Arguments (TM)
for the pulp and paper industry worldwide
Participating as industry experts in pulp and paper financing and M & A deals around the world for nearly three decades, we continue to see the same mistakes made over and over. This newsletter is designed to help you avoid costly mistakes we have seen others make. We will be giving you one or two points each month to help improve your performance.
 
A new vulnerability


As you should know, there are no mainline paper machine manufacturers in the United States. The two largest in the world are in Europe. They have been gobbling up secondary players worldwide, too, as they consolidate the market.

This means that most likely, new machines in North America will come from these two European companies. Granted, they manufacture bits and pieces around the world, but their technological expertise resides at their home offices in Germany and Finland.

Covid-19 has shown a vulnerability to this arrangement. In at least two cases of which we are aware here in the US, startups of new or rebuilt machines have been delayed because the appropriate technicians from the parent companies of the paper machine manufacturers have been recalled. It is not known when they will return to complete their assignments for it is not known when the fairly restrictive travel bans will be lifted.

Likely this will not have a long term effect on earnings or deployment of capital, but it is something to consider on a quarterly basis and something you should be asking about on the next quarterly calls.

If you have a casual question or a major deal, call me on my personal cell phone - 404-822-3412 or email me at jthompson@taii.com or jim.thompson@ipulpmedia.com. We are here to help.

 
Sincerely,