Swedish sawmiller Rörvik Timber has announced a SKr250m (US$33.5m) rights issue to help pay off debts.

The proposal requires authorisation at an extraordinary general meeting to be held on March 16.

An agreement has also been reached with Rörvik’s main bank Nordea, which will see the bank writing off SKr150m of existing loans and the conversion of another SKr100m of loans to 87.5 million series B shares in the company through an offset issue.

Rörvik, which operates 10 production sites in southern Sweden, has also submitted another application for an extension to existing bankruptcy protection through the courts.

The company invested heavily in 2006-2008 to increase annual production capacity from 540,000m³ to 950,000m³. However, the market dropped during the spring of 2008, with average sawn selling prices reducing 30%, leading to liquidity problems a year later. It then applied for bankruptcy protection.