Paper Excellence to buy Brazil’s Eldorado from J&F for $4.7 billion

Brazilian holding company J&F Investimentos SA accepted a proposal from Netherlands-based Paper Excellence to buy pulpmaker Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA for 15 billion reais ($4.7 billion), including debt.

The transaction would take 12 months to complete, and Paper Excellence, controlled by the owners of Indonesia’s Asia Pulp & Paper Co Ltd, would fully assume Eldorado’s debt of almost 8 billion reais. A person with direct knowledge of the transaction said Brazilian pension funds that own 19 percent of Eldorado’s equity were considering whether to sell their stakes. J&F owns 81 percent of the pulpmaker.

Paper Excellence began operating its first cellulose plant in 2007 in Meadow Lake, Canada, and has since expanded by buying other plants in that country and Europe.