News Release

Japan Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, Japan; Representative Director President & CEO: Akihiko Watanabe; hereinafter “the Company”) hereby announces that Gould Paper Corporation (Head Office: New York, USA; Managing Director: Michael Trachtenberg; hereinafter “Gould”), a consolidated subsidiary of the Company, has acquired shares in EFP-Chavassieu (Head Office: Paris, France; hereinafter “EFP”), a paper, paperboard and non-woven fabric distributor in France, through its OVOL Holdings France.

One of the policies of the Non-Japan Wholesaling segment in Medium-term Business Plan 2023 is to strengthen the sales structure by incorporating complementary M&A into the existing global network, and this acquisition of shares is in line with that policy.
The details are as follows.

EFP handles printing, communication, packaging and industrial paper mainly in the French market. With this acquisition of shares, the OVOL Japan Pulp & Paper Group will organically leverage EFP’s strong relationships with European suppliers and the OVOL Japan Pulp & Paper Group network, including Gould Papiers France (Head Office: Paris, France) and Japan Pulp & Paper GmbH (Head Office: Düsseldorf, Germany), to expand and diversify its business in the European market.