UPM shareholders have approved the separation of the group\u2019s plywood and veneer business into WISA Group, which will become an independently listed producer with theoretical annual capacity of around 785,000 m\u00b3.<\/p>\n
The decision was taken at UPM\u2019s Extraordinary General Meeting on August 31. The demerger is scheduled for completion on October 31, 2026, with trading in WISA Group shares on Nasdaq Helsinki expected to start on November 2 or as soon as possible thereafter.<\/p>\n
WISA will have seven production units at five locations in Finland and Estonia and around 1,600 employees. UPM Plywood generated sales of EUR 409 million and comparable EBITDA of EUR 55 million in 2025. While plywood has accounted for only a small part of UPM\u2019s activities, the separation will create one of Europe\u2019s larger dedicated plywood producers.<\/p>\n
The transaction itself does not add new production capacity. Existing factories, products and operations will be transferred to WISA, which will have its own management, board and financial structure.<\/p>\n
A process started in 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n UPM began a strategic review of its plywood business in September 2025 and announced in April 2026 that it would proceed with a partial demerger. The August 31 shareholder vote approved that plan.<\/p>\n The transaction is structured as a demerger rather than a sale. UPM shareholders will receive one WISA Group share for every UPM share they hold while retaining their UPM shares. WISA will therefore initially have largely the same shareholder base as UPM.<\/p>\n UPM has already started treating Plywood as discontinued operations in its financial reporting. The business has been reported separately since the second quarter of 2026 following approval of the demerger plan.<\/p>\n Seven production units and 785,000 m\u00b3 of capacity<\/strong><\/p>\n WISA will enter the market with seven production units at five locations in Finland and Estonia. Their combined theoretical maximum capacity is approximately 785,000 m\u00b3 per year.<\/p>\n The Finnish operations include sites in Kouvola, Ristiina, Savonlinna and Joensuu, alongside production in Estonia. The company produces birch and spruce plywood for panel distribution, construction and several industrial markets.<\/p>\n Important industrial applications include vehicle flooring, LNG shipbuilding and parquet production. This gives WISA exposure to markets outside residential construction, while the WISA name is already well established in the international plywood trade.<\/p>\n The production structure will remain largely unchanged when the demerger takes effect. No major capacity additions or mill closures have been announced as part of the separation.<\/p>\n WISA targets more than EUR 550 million in sales<\/strong><\/p>\n The new company aims to generate more than EUR 550 million in annual sales by 2030, compared with EUR 409 million in 2025. This implies an increase of more than EUR 140 million, or around one third, within five years.<\/p>\n WISA is also targeting a comparable EBIT margin of 13% and net debt below 1.5 times comparable EBITDA. Its planned dividend policy is to distribute approximately 50% of annual net profit.<\/p>\n UPM has not announced a detailed production expansion programme linked to these targets. There is also no volume target showing how much plywood WISA expects to produce by 2030. Growth could come from volumes, prices and product mix, but the company has so far provided financial targets rather than a detailed expansion plan.<\/p>\n As an independent company, WISA will make its own financing and investment decisions for the plywood and veneer operations. For now, however, the existing 785,000 m\u00b3 production network remains the basis of the business.<\/p>\n WISA enters a difficult European plywood market<\/strong><\/p>\n The separation comes at a difficult time for European plywood producers. Construction remains weak in several major markets, while Northern European manufacturers continue to face relatively high labour, wood and energy costs. Competition is also strong in standard plywood products.<\/p>\n WISA has a relatively large product and customer mix. Its birch and spruce plywood is sold into construction and distribution but also into vehicle flooring, shipbuilding, parquet and other industrial applications.<\/p>\n These specialised markets differ from standard construction plywood. Vehicle flooring, for example, requires specific strength, durability and surface properties, while plywood used in LNG carriers has demanding technical requirements. Such applications make product quality and specifications more important than in the most price-sensitive parts of the panel market.<\/p>\n The company will nevertheless remain exposed to European industrial and construction activity. Its performance after the separation will depend partly on the recovery of these markets and on demand for its higher-value industrial products.<\/p>\n Existing management will lead the new company<\/strong><\/p>\n Tuija Suur-Hamari, currently Executive Vice President of UPM Plywood, will become President and CEO of WISA Group when the demerger takes effect.<\/p>\n The rest of the senior management will also largely come from the existing organisation. Pia Helminen will head Human Resources, Saara-Maria Helminen legal affairs, Kristiina Jaaranen marketing, sustainability and communications, Susanna Rinne sales and Juhani Tenhunen operations. Lasse von Hertzen will serve as interim CFO.<\/p>\n Tapio Korpeinen has been appointed Chairman of the WISA board, with Mats Nordlander as Deputy Chairman. Sakari Ahdekivi, Frank Herrmann, Nina Kiviranta and Emmanuelle Picard will serve as board members.<\/p>\n This provides considerable continuity between UPM Plywood and WISA. The main change is the corporate structure rather than the industrial organisation of the business.<\/p>\n European plywood market implications<\/strong><\/p>\n The immediate effect on European plywood supply should be limited. WISA\u2019s seven production units are already operating and their approximately 785,000 m\u00b3 of theoretical capacity is already part of the market.<\/p>\n The bigger question is what happens after the company becomes independent. WISA wants to increase sales from EUR 409 million in 2025 to more than EUR 550 million by 2030, but it has not yet provided a corresponding production target. It is therefore too early to determine how much of that growth could translate into additional plywood volumes.<\/p>\n The scale of the company is nevertheless significant. A business that represented only a small part of UPM will become a dedicated listed plywood producer with a large Nordic production base, an established international brand and around 1,600 employees.<\/p>\n No major capacity expansion or acquisition programme has been announced. The first clearer indication of WISA\u2019s plans should come after the November listing, when the company begins reporting independently and provides more detail on how it intends to reach its 2030 targets.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UPM shareholders have approved the separation of the group\u2019s plywood and veneer business into WISA Group, which will become an independently listed producer with theoretical annual capacity of around 785,000 m\u00b3.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n