The largest sawmill in Switzerland, Swiss Timber, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure local government agreement for part of its restructuring plan.
The mill in Domat/Ems, which has a capacity of 1 million m³, was only taken over by Mayr-Melnhof last year from Stallinger, but a combination of a lack of timber supply, an 18% exchange rate loss (Swiss franc/euro) and the economic crisis led to “great almost unsurmountable challenges”.
But Mayr-Melnhof said it was ultimately the negative decision of the Grisons parliament about making a CHF6.75m investment in a pellet plant, part of Swiss Timber’s restructuring, that led to the bankruptcy.
“With this decision, the restructuring agreement subsequently failed,” said Josef Dringel, Mayr-Melnhof Holding CEO.
Mr Dringel said he respected the democratic decision of the Grisons parliament.
Mayr-Melnhof admitted that its decision to acquire Swiss Timber in 2009 was a “great risk”.
“For this reason, we did not financially integrate Swiss Timber into the Mayr-Melnhof group but operated it as a full subsidiary,” said Mr Dringel.
“The financial commitment of Mayr-Melnhof in Domat/Ems is manageable and is, as already mentioned, outside of the Mayor-Melhof group. The bankruptcy is no threat whatsoever to Mayr-Melnhof Holding AG.
