Ahlstrom makes EUR 7 million investment in France to produce lower grammage papers and enhance quality

Ahlstrom Corporation PRESS RELEASE 20.6.2011 at 15.00

Ahlstrom, a global high-performance materials company, announced today that it will invest a total of EUR 7 million at its Stenay plant in France to be able to produce lower grammage grades, enhancing the quality of one-side coated papers for metalized labels and flexible packaging.

According to Jan Lång, CEO and President of Ahlstrom, the investment will play a key role in responding to the current market needs for low-grammage papers. "As a leading player, we have been continuously improving our offering in flexible packaging and metalized labels. In addition to addressing our customers' specific needs, this investment will also have a highly positive impact on the overall quality of the production output and performance characteristics at customers' end".

The investment is planned to be completed in mid-2012.

The Stenay plant is part of Ahlstrom's Label and Processing Business Area, which operates a total of six production sites in France, Germany, Italy and Brazil.

For more information, please contact:

Liisa Nyyssönen
Vice President, Communications
Tel. +358 10 888 4757

Patrick Jeambar
Executive Vice President, Label and Processing
Tel. +33 4 7645 3515

Ahlstrom in brief
Ahlstrom is a high performance materials company, partnering with leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. Our products are used in a large variety of everyday applications, such as filters, wallcovers, wipes, flooring, labels and food packaging. We have a leading market position in the businesses in which we operate. Our 5,700 employees serve customers in 26 countries on six continents. In 2010, Ahlstrom's net sales amounted to EUR 1.9 billion. The company's share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. More information is available at www.ahlstrom.com.