Tuesday, January 3, 2017 11:15 am

On 1 January, Crown Timber Group Plc was renamed Södra Wood Ltd. The forest industry Group Södra acquired Crown Timber in March last year and the integration of the companies has proceeded at a high pace since then, culminating with this name change.

On 31 March 2016, Södra acquired the remaining shares in Crown Timber Group plc. Södra had previously held approximately 20 percent of the shares in the company.

"The UK is our principal export market. This acquisition gives us valuable control over the entire supply chain - from production to end users - and provides potential for growth," says Jörgen Lindquist, Business Area President of Södra Wood.

Crown Timber has supplied high-quality construction timber to the UK and Irish building materials trade and manufacturing industry since 1983. For some time, Södra has been one of the company's key suppliers and, in its capacity as a part owner, helped Crown to grow and reach the market-leading position the company holds today.

Södra's philosophy of building long-term value and relationships was a perfect match for Crown's commercial strategy and it was therefore a natural step for Södra to assume total ownership of the company.

"We are securing a similar structure in the UK and Ireland as we apply in several of our other markets, giving us control of the entire chain, from production to customer. A fully integrated supply chain will enhance service to customers and we can create unique cooperation between the Swedish forests and the UK and Irish construction markets," says Jörgen Lindquist.

The name change will also apply to the sawmill in Hamina, Finland, which was included as part of Södra's acquisition of Crown Timber. It will now be known as Södra Wood Oy.

Södra already has sales offices in China, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, Norway and Denmark.

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Join Jim Thompson on the 2nd Annual Papermakers Mission Trip to Guatemala, 22 - 29 July 17. Build houses, talk about the pulp and paper industry. For more information, email jthompson@taii.com with "Guatemala" in the subject line.